Strange Sally Diamond has similar vibes to Eleanor Oliphant and The Maid but is much darker.
Synopsis
The book opens with Sally Diamond and her adoptive father laughing about putting him out with the trash when he dies. Sally thinks the joke is that her father says she’ll be crying her eyes out, but she never cries, so har har.
When he dies, Sally, dry-eyed, takes his body out to the barn and puts him in the incinerator, as they do with all the garbage. She doesn’t understand what she did wrong. She was only following her father’s directions.
Soon Sally is in the spotlight, and revelation after revelation comes out about her childhood before her adoption.
Review of Strange Sally Diamond
This thriller is a fast read and is hard to put down.
I’m slightly surprised that it kept me glued to the pages since I’ve tried to read one of the author’s past releases and could not get into it. This one was engaging from the beginning to the end. Some plot lines were predictable, while others were unexpected.
This is definitely one of the standout thrillers I’ve read so far this year. It is dark and disturbing, but it also incorporates lightness and humour.
It is sad to think that the experiences in this book are not isolated and that this has happened and probably still does. While I liked the book and storyline, there’s just something that niggles at me about reading a thriller loosely based on real-life situations and trauma for entertainment, ya know? I think the author handles the subject matter well enough, but it could have easily turned gratuitous. I still felt a little icky reading it at times. I’m lowering my rating by half a star because of this.
But I was completely wrapped up in the story, so there’s that.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Expected Publication: 18 July 2023
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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