Review: Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce

Title: Blood Orange

Author: Harriet Tyce

Published: February 2019, Grand Central Publishing

Format: ARC Paperback, 352 pages

Source: Publisher

Summary: 

A young lawyer’s
outwardly perfect life spirals out of control as she takes on her first
murder case in this dark and twisty debut thriller for readers of Paula
Hawkins, A.J. Finn, or Shari Lapena.

 
Alison has it all. A doting
husband, adorable daughter, and a career on the rise–she’s just been
given her first murder case to defend. But all is never as it seems…

Just one more night. Then I’ll end it.
Alison
drinks too much. She’s neglecting her family. And she’s having an
affair with a colleague whose taste for pushing boundaries may be more
than she can handle.

I did it. I killed him. I should be locked up.
Alison’s
client doesn’t deny that she stabbed her husband – she wants to plead
guilty. And yet something about her story is deeply amiss. Saving this
woman may be the first step to Alison saving herself.

I’m watching you. I know what you’re doing.
But
someone knows Alison’s secrets. Someone who wants to make her pay for
what she’s done, and who won’t stop until she’s lost everything….

My thoughts: I was so excited to have this book in my hands…it is definitely going down as one of my favorites of the year, no question about it! I am in disbelief that this is a debut novel – this psychological thriller is smart, obsessive and voyeuristic in nature and will have you frantically flipping those pages trying to put everything together before the shocking ending!

I think what I loved most about this book is that none of the characters are particularly likeable, yet you just cannot seem to walk away once you start reading this book. It is utterly compelling and Alison, our main protagonist, is deeply flawed and I think that is what makes her so attractive. You just need to see where this book takes her. Is she a reliable narrator or not? I constantly asked myself this question over and over again throughout the book. There are things going on in her life that will make you wonder. Her personal life might be in a bit of a mess, but professionally, things couldn’t be going better.  

She is given her first murder case and while that is certainly a case that is intriguing in and of itself , I was more interested with what was going on with Alison herself. And I loved the way the book was set up – we would be just getting into the murder case and finally making headway with that and then the focus would switch to Alison and her issues, and then it would switch again. It would be so frustrating, because as much as I wanted to know how the murder case ended up…I really wanted closure on Alison and her issues more. 

This book is the type that gets under your skin. So many things happen that you just can’t walk away from it until you get that final resolution and yet…AND YET…let me just tell you, I was completely dumbfounded when I got to the end. I had my theories on where things where heading. I was making notes to myself along the way about what I thought was going to happen and I couldn’t have been further from the truth. This one is good! It’s dark and twisted and I loved it! I have definitely found a new author to stalk…Harriet Tyce, you have a new fan for sure and I hope your next book will be out soon!!!