"Walk the terrifying, deadly, frustrating and angry path of a stalking victim"
Reviewed by Lynn Cunningham
Posted May 24, 2015
Suspense
Clarissa is a young woman living in Bath who is still
reeling from a broken relationship. While she tries to put
herself back out into the world as a form of therapy, she
agrees to attend the book signing of a colleague from the
university where she works. Others from the university
staff
attend with her, but they all seem to have plans for
afterward, thus leaving Clarissa with instructor Rafe
Solmes.
He seems nice and brings her a glass of wine. As they
talk,
Clarissa sips the wine. Rafe wants to walk her home and
she
tries to refuse, but it seems that she has started to feel
quite strange. Her head is spinning and she ends up
accepting his gracious offer to see her safely home.
That was her Big Mistake.
She awakes the next morning feeling ill and disoriented.
Rafe is sleeping behind her. Both of them are nude. She
hurts all over and she has smudges of blood on her in
various parts of her body. Rafe apparently considers them
to
be in a relationship now and will only agree to leave her
apartment when she gives him her mobile phone number.
From that moment on, Rafe is everywhere she looks. He
waits
for her outside of her apartment; follows her all over the
city; turns up every place she goes. Turning to stalking
pamphlets for victims, she follows all of their
suggestions
right down to getting a special journal where she
documents
every incident.
Soon she will be ready to go to the police with enough
evidence to stop him. The problem is whether or not she
will
be alive long enough to ever get to the police.
THE BOOK OF YOU is easily one of the best books I have
read
all year. New writer Claire Kendal does herself proud with
this debut novel. The plotline runs the full gamut of
emotions as readers are taken on this harrowing journey
with
Clarissa. Taut, nerve jangling suspense with a heroine
that
you simply cannot help but like, make THE BOOK OF YOU
something to be devoured. In fact, you may be able to do
it
in one sitting simply because it is so mesmerizing.
I cannot say that THE BOOK OF YOU is a happy story by any
means, but it does have a very satisfying ending.
Important
parts of the plot are wrapped up nicely while others are a
bit more open-ended as if to allow the readers to
interpret
things on their own.
Clarissa is a wonderful character. She is a victim, yes.
However, she is also very brave in spite of her terror and
quite determined to reclaim her life from this monster.
Stalking has become more and more prevalent in recent
years.
Fortunately, most law enforcement staff take it very
seriously these days due to the many injuries and deaths
caused by stalking over time. THE BOOK OF YOU offers a
bird's eye view into what it is like to be the victim of
a
fixation from a lunatic.
There are not enough words to praise THE BOOK OF YOU. I,
for
one, will be anxiously awaiting Claire Kendal's next book.
If you don't pick up a copy of THE BOOK OF YOU soon, you
are
doing yourself a huge injustice.
SUMMARY
A mesmerizing tale of psychological suspense about a woman
who must fight to escape an expert manipulator determined
to
possess her, Claire Kendal’s debut novel is a
sophisticated
and disturbing portrait of compulsion, control, and terror
that will appeal to fans of Before I Go to Sleep, The
Silent
Wife, and Into the Darkest Corner. His name is Rafe, and he is everywhere Clarissa turns. At
the university where she works. Her favorite sewing shop.
The train station. Outside her apartment. His messages
choke
her voice mail; his gifts litter her mailbox. Since that
one
regrettable night, his obsession with her has grown,
becoming more terrifying with each passing day. And as
Rafe
has made clear, he will never let her go. Clarissa’s only escape from this harrowing nightmare is
inside a courtroom—where she is a juror on a trial
involving
a victim whose experiences eerily parallel her own. There
she finds some peace and even makes new friends, including
an attractive widower named Robert, whose caring
attentions
make her feel desired and safe. But as a disturbingly
violent crime unfolds in the courtroom, Clarissa realizes
that to survive she must expose Rafe herself. Conceiving a
plan, she begins collecting the evidence of Rafe’s madness
to use against him—a record of terror that will force her
to
relive every excruciating moment she desperately wants to
forget. Proof that will reveal the twisted, macabre fairy
tale that Rafe has spun around them . . . with an ending
more horrifying than her darkest fears. Masterfully constructed, filled with exquisite tension and
a
pervasive sense of menace, The Book of You explores the
lines between love and compulsion, fantasy and reality,
and
offers a heart-stopping portrait of a woman determined to
survive. Claire Kendal’s extraordinary debut will haunt
readers long after it reaches its terrifying, breathtaking
conclusion.
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