Title:- The Hospital
Author:- Leslie Wolfe
Date published:- will be published on 24th May 2024
No. of pages:- 351 pages
Genre:- Psychological Thriller
Rating:-
Plot:- 4/5
Writing:- 3/5
Overall rating:- 3.5/5
When I wake up, I know three things. My name is Emma. Someone tried to kill me. And I can’t remember who. When I blink, my eyelashes brush against scratchy cloth. My fingers twitch, numb and distant. In the distance, sirens wail. I’m in the hospital.I should be safe here, but I know I’m not. The last thing I remember is running, seeing an arm raised to strike… Why would anyone want to kill me?
Desperately, I piece together my scattered memories. I’m standing with my husband on sugar-white sand, our rings glinting in the sunlight. I’ll get better, and I’ll go home to him, and he will protect me. But when he visits, his new girlfriend is on his arm. He tells me we got divorced three years ago, and my world falls apart.
What else have I forgotten? The only way I can keep myself safe is to uncover the answers buried deep in my mind. But as I talk to my visitors—listening to the gentle tones of the doctors and nurses, grateful for the care of my friends and family—I start to see the lies that contradict what I remember of my life. They say it’s just my broken memory. But I know the shocking I can’t trust a word anyone says…
Synopsis – Emma finds herself waking up in a hospital although she cannot see properly and doesn’t really remember how she ended up in the hospital. The last thing Emma remembered was she was running away from someone. As Emma lies in the hospital with no recollection of her memories, she couldn’t help but think how she ended up in the hospital and whether she should trust people or not…
Good points – I actually liked the plot of the story. The retrograde amnesia part coupled with the temporary blindness and not remembering your own name or how you ended up in the hospital is actually a great premise for a psychological thriller. The one that I also liked most in this book is the greatest twist revealed at the end, which was completely unexpected.
Bad points – I have read Leslie Wolfe’s books before but unfortunately, I didn’t get to enjoy this book as much as I thought I should. For example, the author has written in complete Emma’s POV yet while reading, you can’t differentiate which is present day and which is past before the “accident” because it was all written in one chapter. As such, I didn’t like the writing much because of this because as a reader it confused me and it took me sometime to realize that I was reading the past and not the present or vice versa. While what grabbed my attention was the second part of the book, the first part of the book was slow paced and I nearly got bored with the first part as it wasn’t fast paced like I expected it to be.
Overall verdict – This was for sure is not her best book. I have read Leslie Wolfe’s books where I have read in one go. It took a lot of time for me to get into the story and the timelines in this book was very confusing. However, despite the negative points, the premise and plot of the story itself was unique but I wished the author had executed it well which would have indeed made this book more compelling to read. Overall this book is worth 3.5 starts.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.
Tropical Girl Reads 