Unhinge
Genre: Romantic Psychological Suspense
Author: Calia Read
Release Day: January 12, 2015
With Unravel, Calia Read took readers inside the mind of a tormented young woman confined in Fairfax Mental Institute, seemingly without cause. In her new standalone novel of psychological suspense, UNHINGE (Ballantine Trade Paperback, On Sale 1/12/16), Read takes us back to Fairfax, this time to meet a very different patient, equally trapped, but doubly lost.
Hold your breath and count to ten.
Soon it will be over before it ever began.No matter how many times Victoria Donovan repeats that rhyme to herself, she’s still locked inside a mental institution.
Once upon a time, her life was a fantasy: Wes, the handsome fiancé, a storybook wedding and a white picket fence. But then a picture-perfect marriage warped into something sinister. As Victoria’s world twisted from dream to nightmare, her husband’s jealousy pushed her beyond the breaking point.
Calia Read breaks the mold in this explosive story that grabs hold and doesn’t let go until the shocking truth is revealed. UNHINGE is about a woman trying to reconstruct her past and find the truth somewhere between her memories and her madness with the help of a handsome, mysterious stranger.
I’m beginning to see the truth has its price.
It’s your sanity it wants and craves more than anything.
I was craving a romance that was different and preferably a little bit of a mind fuck and when I read the synopsis for Unhinge, I knew I found myself a winner. It was a book that I read in practically one sitting not only because it read quickly and the writing grabbed me, but because the mystery of what was going on was driving me almost as crazy as Victoria was. Unhinge was exactly the kind of different I wanted.
Victoria has no recollection of her life before Fairfax Hospital, where she believes she’s been for the past three years when it’s really been six months. She knows two things; she loves her baby daughter, Evelyn, that’s in the institution with her and that she’s told that her beloved husband, Wes, is dead after a tragic accident. The details of how, why, and when are blurred within the shadows of her own mind. Determined that the hospital doesn’t hold her answers, she stops taking her pills. But there’s another two things that she knows; She sees her supposedly dead husband every day when he visits her in her room and a mysterious stranger that visits her is tugging not only at her memories but her heart. Her mind is frayed, but she’s convinced her husband is alive. So then why is everyone telling her he’s dead?
The story is told in alternating flashes of past and present, but what I enjoyed is the past plays out like Victoria’s memory so the reader experiences it right along with her. With ever puzzle piece that she unravels, you get it along with her. Having it told solely in Victoria’s POV just solidifies the experience.
Little by little Victoria begins to unravel the mystery of her past through the pictures that her therapist shows her. She begins to remember the man she loved and the details of the events that led them down the path of her ending up where she is…
The writing was captivating and I was sucked in more and more with each page I read. I was salivating for every new detail and eager to put all the puzzle pieces together.
I think this could have easily been a solid four or five star read for me up until the ending. Unfortunately, I found it to be convoluted, OTT and quite honestly it ruined the effect the entire book had for me quite a bit. I don’t want to say much since I don’t want to give it away, but while it was meant to wrap things up, it left me with more questions than answers about the hows of it. I certainly didn’t see it coming, so I suppose the twist of it worked in that respect.
While the ending left a little something to be desired for me, I still enjoyed the book and definitely recommend it for readers that are looking for something a little different with a dash of suspense. I loved Calia’s writing style and I’m hooked on the series. I love the Girl Interrupted vibe of it all so I’m definitely looking forward to the next installment which I’m hoping will be Reagan.
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