From the journal
4-Star Review of “Delusional” by anyerfeanix
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not disappointed
By anyerfeanix
Format:Kindle Edition
‘Delusional’ is a supernatural thriller with elements of romance. Easy style with varied vocabulary provides an enjoyable reading experience. With few exceptions, description is minimal, which helps achieve a fast-paced, gripping effect, desirable in all novels of the genre.
The story starts with Patricia falling for a married colleague, Paul, and then it escalates into Patricia’s worst nightmare. Visions, scary near-misses, and other spine-chilling occurrences punctuate the next few weeks, driving her insane. But the insanity is not the usual type – she knows the unnatural events come from outside rather than being a figment of her imagination.
Although the identity of the culprit is obvious relatively early (by design), I was compelled to read until the very end to see how the story developed and concluded. At some point after the middle, this book became unputdownable, and I had to finish it at that sitting.
The only thing that detracted from the story was a far-from-likeable protagonist. Patricia is portrayed as a boring, empty bimbo and – as such – she is well written. It is not compulsory to furnish every novel with likeable characters, and many authors have pulled it off (e.g. Gillian Flynn with Gone Girl). This strategy often works, but a little bit more soul in Patricia would have made a big difference.
Patricia only waits for a man to turn up, obsessively keeps fit, reads the Inner Self magazine (apparently only recently, but I don’t believe it), and gets all agitated over little things like a stain on her blouse. There is no sense of humour in Patricia, but attraction to muscular good looks she has aplenty. If her man hunger was a direct result of some deep childhood trauma, I might have sympathized with her, but she is after a married guy because of several preceding years of being single.
Hence, I didn’t really care that much what was going to happen to her.
On the other hand, Jocelyn, Patricia’s friend, and Ray, the private detective she hires to resolve her delusional problem appear to be much more sensible and likeable.
My penultimate observation concerns a detail that perhaps needs to be corrected. Wendy: ' “You know, I remember something about exponents from math class. Do you know the power of two, Mr. Yurka?” “Excuse me?” “You multiply a number by itself. Like two times two. Let’s say, for example, one bee becomes two.” ' Er, no – one times one is one. Not sure if this one is intentional or not; if it is, I would expect some sort of mockery directed at Wendy’s ignorance to ensue, either provided by her interlocutor or the narrator himself, but that did not happen.
To finish… ' “Buzz off, Dale,” she hissed, as she made a beeline to the door. ' Said when Dale is in death throes following a number of bee stings – a bit cheesy, but in a good way. I really liked that.
‘Delusional’ is a supernatural thriller with elements of romance. Easy style with varied vocabulary provides an enjoyable reading experience. With few exceptions, description is minimal, which helps achieve a fast-paced, gripping effect, desirable in all novels of the genre.
The story starts with Patricia falling for a married colleague, Paul, and then it escalates into Patricia’s worst nightmare. Visions, scary near-misses, and other spine-chilling occurrences punctuate the next few weeks, driving her insane. But the insanity is not the usual type – she knows the unnatural events come from outside rather than being a figment of her imagination.
Although the identity of the culprit is obvious relatively early (by design), I was compelled to read until the very end to see how the story developed and concluded. At some point after the middle, this book became unputdownable, and I had to finish it at that sitting.
The only thing that detracted from the story was a far-from-likeable protagonist. Patricia is portrayed as a boring, empty bimbo and – as such – she is well written. It is not compulsory to furnish every novel with likeable characters, and many authors have pulled it off (e.g. Gillian Flynn with Gone Girl). This strategy often works, but a little bit more soul in Patricia would have made a big difference.
Patricia only waits for a man to turn up, obsessively keeps fit, reads the Inner Self magazine (apparently only recently, but I don’t believe it), and gets all agitated over little things like a stain on her blouse. There is no sense of humour in Patricia, but attraction to muscular good looks she has aplenty. If her man hunger was a direct result of some deep childhood trauma, I might have sympathized with her, but she is after a married guy because of several preceding years of being single.
Hence, I didn’t really care that much what was going to happen to her.
On the other hand, Jocelyn, Patricia’s friend, and Ray, the private detective she hires to resolve her delusional problem appear to be much more sensible and likeable.
My penultimate observation concerns a detail that perhaps needs to be corrected. Wendy: ' “You know, I remember something about exponents from math class. Do you know the power of two, Mr. Yurka?” “Excuse me?” “You multiply a number by itself. Like two times two. Let’s say, for example, one bee becomes two.” ' Er, no – one times one is one. Not sure if this one is intentional or not; if it is, I would expect some sort of mockery directed at Wendy’s ignorance to ensue, either provided by her interlocutor or the narrator himself, but that did not happen.
To finish… ' “Buzz off, Dale,” she hissed, as she made a beeline to the door. ' Said when Dale is in death throes following a number of bee stings – a bit cheesy, but in a good way. I really liked that.