📚#PsychologicalSuspense @TerryTyler4 Reviews The Version That Survived by Vera Mercer for Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT #TuesdayBookBlog #BookX
Today’s team review is from Terry.
Terry blogs here https://terrytylerbookreviews.blogspot.com/
Terry has been reading The Version That Survived by Vera Mercer.
4 out of 5 stars
I was most intrigued by this book from the word go – I won’t go into the plot as that’s in the blurb. I was struck by how clever the writing was, it flowed so well, and also I loved how the author did not reveal essential detail about the events the book hinged upon – I was thinking, what’s going on here? Happily, the writing was compelling enough to keep me wondering and turning the pages, as the picture came into focus.
Sadly, I did lose interest in the second half, much of which was dialogue between the main character (Nora), and various others, in which they discussed intricate points and details. It started to feel like a report, rather than a story, which made the drama ebb, somewhat. I realised then that I wanted to read the actual story from, when the accident took place, with Lydia’s rise in real time, as they say. Her scheming, her manipulation of just about everyone, her need to redeem herself. She was a fascinating character, and I would have liked to see her in action. Know more about her. There is more than one way of telling a story – choosing the right one can be very difficult!
‘The reveal’ did bring all the threads together, and explain much that went before, with all its implications and long-ranging effects. The change in character focus really worked. Completely satisfying end (loved the very last lines), always appreciated.
This is a debut novel, and I wish Vera Mercer all the best in her literary career
Book Description:
She built an empire from a dead man’s grief. Now her last words have gone missing.
When Lydia Vale steps away from the microphone and falls from the gallery at Corbett Hall, the world calls it a tragedy. Nora Bell knows better. Lydia had invited her there for a reason.
For more than a decade, Lydia turned the death of Owen Mercer into a movement: bestselling books, sold-out retreats, a foundation built on radical honesty. Nora kept the private version of Lydia safe until the public one became unbearable. Then the recordings appeared. Lydia was ruined. Hours later, she was dead.
But one page vanished from the lectern before the police secured the scene. One page Lydia had touched moments before she died. One page that may name Owen, Nora, or the truth both women spent eleven years surviving.
As a journalist, a detective, and Lydia’s own people begin pulling apart the old story, Nora must decide how much truth the dead are owed, and how much of herself can remain if the right version finally comes to light.
For readers of literary psychological suspense, dark women’s fiction, and intimate thrillers about memory, betrayal, grief, and the stories people build in order to live.
Content note: contains suicide, grief, psychological manipulation, gaslighting, traumatic bereavement, and discussion of a fatal car accident.
