Thanks for stopping by! I am so excited about this book that there was no way that I could just leave a review. I have to share all my thoughts. So let it be known: here there be spoilers! (But very light ones.)
56 Days is a novel by Cahterine Ryan Howard set at the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in Ireland. One of the most appealing aspects of this book is that it doesn't take place in chronological order. Sometimes you are in the present, other times you are as far as 73 days in the past. Each chapter, the author tells us where in the timeline we are and that also clues us in to whose head we're in for what happens next. You see, there are three POV characters: Ciara, Oliver and Lee, a detective.
Stars: 5/5
The author definitely knew what she was doing when she chose to head hop and time jump, it adds to the suspense and to the pacing. You can't help but keep turning the page. What is Oliver's terrible secret? Which one of them is dead? Ciara or Oliver? Who is this mysterious woman who keeps showing up everywhere? Are they really in love? Is one of them in danger? We know from the onset that someone is dead, but somehoe Howard draws your attention away from that fact to the intricacies of Oliver and Ciara's daily life, how they met and how they quarantine together. You want to know which one of them did it.
Honestly, when I found out that Oliver was dead, I had my suspicions. Was it Ciara? Laura, the journalist who'd been stalking him? Was it an accident like most of the professionals on the scene believe? This book was riveting and extremely thrilling. I enjoyed every second of it.
Especially the ending. It brought me back to my all-time favorite movie, The Usual Suspects and the author even references the movie in the last pages before a satisfying close. We know who did it, why and now it is time for them to just disappear. Never to be heard from again....much like Keyser Soze.
What are your thoughts? Have any suspenseful reads you want to recommend? Let me know in the comments.
Until then, happy reading!
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