Review: Emma In The Night by Wendy Walker

Title: Emma In the Night

Author: Wendy Walker

Published by: St. Martin's Press

Released: August 8, 2017

Source: Review Copy via NetGalley and St. Martin's Press

Summary: Two sisters go missing. A car is discovered at the beach, shoes left in the sand. The car belongs to the older sister Emma. Did she drown herself in the ocean? Was she taken? Where's her younger sister Cass?

Three years later, Cass returns to her mother's house, but not Emma. Cass has a story to tell, a sister to save, and secrets to expose.

My Thoughts: I want to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc to review. I'm always really grateful to read and review books early. This is going to be an honest review, like all of my reviews are, and all opinions are my own.

I'm just kind of meh about this book. I really enjoy mysteries and thrillers, and I really enjoyed the idea for this one. If I had to describe my feelings for this book in a couple words, they would be interesting, but dull.

Emma In the Night is very much a tell instead of a show. It's pretty much just Cass telling her story and experience in order to find her sister. All that telling made it a little dull. It definitely is not the most exciting mystery thriller I've ever read.

The story switches perspectives between the characters of Cass and a psychologist/therapist who works for the police named Dr. Winter. Neither character was a very exciting voice to follow.

Cass definitely gives that feeling of an unreliable narrator. What she's telling everyone is constantly referred to as a story, which made me question just what to believe.

Dr. Winter is kind of consumed by this case, mainly because of one aspect. She believes that Cass and Emma's mother suffers from a severe narcissistic personality disorder. Dr. Winter has a lot of bias in this assessment, because she believed her mother suffered from the same thing. I don't think Dr. Winter was able to separate her past from the case.

I thought the Narcissistic Personality Syndrome was interesting, but I do feel I got hit over the head with it. It seemed to be always mentioned, always brought up. I must have read the word Narcissistic at least 50 times. 

I will applaud this for its twists and turns. I wasn't expecting how things were going to go, how it all was going to end. It did a great job with that.

I thought this book was okay. I enjoyed the mystery of it and not knowing who or what to trust. I wish it had done more showing and less telling, although, maybe the story Wendy Walker was trying to tell wouldn't have worked out like that. I did find parts of it a little dull. I'm interested in reading more from Wendy Walker, I think she can tell a good mystery. Thank you again St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for letting me read and review this!

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.5/5

Interesting, but a little Dull.