Over Her Dead Body by Susan WalterMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Well, I almost DNFd this after the first twenty pages. Unfortunately, I ignored my better angels and pushed through. Blessedly, it was short.
This is my first journey into the work of Susan Walter, and it also be my last. The work was tedious, repetitive and not as clever as she clearly thought. The characters were each abhorrent and wholly unlikable as well. Additionally, the unbelievable specifics in which the reader was asked to invest bordered on parody or satire—which, even if intended, was a hearty miss.
The structure of the novel led directly to the tedium experienced as a reader. The narrator shifts from chapter to chapter, which is a technique I’ve seen used quite effectively by other authors. Walter, however, has put her own spin on cycling narration by retelling a single series of events over and over, from each character’s “unique” perspective. As the detail changes between those chapters were subtle, the result is reading what were nearly identical consecutive chapters. I suppose it is a way to fill pages, but furthering the action with each narration shift would have been far more entertaining.
As for the characters, I found each (save Jordan) to be flawed beyond redemption. Their life choices, as well as their circumstantial choices, revealed them as selfish, morally reprehensible people without a single saving grace. It would have been nice to have a single character to invest in and cheer for. That just didn’t happen.
Finally, the plot reminded me of Verity by Colleen Hoover—just so far reaching as to be ridiculous. I didn’t believe a single page. Again, it read as almost a parody of the suspense genre, like Walter was writing the extremes to show the banality of common themes and plot details. I have to repeat myself here, though—even as a parody it just doesn’t work.
I’m so glad I received this on First Reads. Had I purchased it, I’d be doing a slow burn about money wasted. As it is, the only thing I lost was time. Two stars for decent editing. Choose something else!
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