Thursday 1 August 2019

Book Review: JANE DOE by Victoria Helen Stone

Title: JANE DOE
Author: Victoria Helen Stone
Read: July 2019
My Rating: all the stars! ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ


Book Description:


Jane’s days at a Midwest insurance company are perfectly ordinary. She blends in well, unremarkably pretty in her floral-print dresses and extra efficient at her low-level job. She’s just the kind of woman middle manager Steven Hepsworth likes—meek, insecure, and willing to defer to a man. No one has any idea who Jane really is. Least of all Steven.

But plain Jane is hiding something. And Steven’s bringing out the worst in her.

Nothing can distract Jane from going straight for his heart: allowing herself to be seduced into Steven’s bed, to insinuate herself into his career and his family, and to expose all his dirty secrets. It’s time for Jane to dig out everything that matters to Steven. So she can take it all away.

Just as he did to her.


My musings:


Don’t you love it when a book sneaks up on you out of nowhere and then dazzles you with its brilliance? JANE DOE was that type of book for me. I unwittingly downloaded it on Audible on some daily or monthly deal, really knowing nothing about it at all. It started off quite slowly, and I was wondering if it was really for me. And then – BAM! Things start happening. Suddenly I was so hooked that I sat in the driveway in the middle of the night after coming home from work so I could listen just a little bit longer.

Jane is probably one of my favourite protagonists in crime fiction - ever. She never tries to hide her own shortcomings, admitting from the very start that she is a sociopath who does not subscribe to the same morals and conventions the rest of us do. Which makes it a lot easier for her to act out her perfect plan of revenge for the death of her best friend. Intrigued yet? If you have ever dreamed of revenge, I bet it was tinged with a sense of guilt the likes Jane would never submit to. In Jane’s world, it’s all about logic, and no time is wasted on useless feelings. A wrong has been committed, and she is setting out to put it right. An eye for an eye. Justice, old testament style. And not only is Jane very driven, but she is also very smart. Note – if you are going to piss someone off, don’t pick someone as clever and ruthless as this woman!

To be honest, by the halfway mark I was ready to throttle Steven myself with my own bare hands if Jane wasn’t getting a move on. I was cheering for her the whole way. Does this make me a sociopath, too? I felt similarly about the main character in John Marss’ THE GOOD SAMARITAN, except that his character was seriously disturbed. Jane isn’t, not really. She is just out to teach Steven a lesson, and she is planning to make it one he will never forget.


I loved Jane. Not often have I encountered such an honest, feisty, devious and smart protagonist. By the end of the story I was sad to see her drift out of my life. I already missed her wicked sense of humour, her sarcasm, her sense of justice. Characters like this don’t come around very often! 



Summary:


Has a book ever snuck up on you out of nowhere and landed right smack bang on your favourites list? JANE DOE was that book for me! If you want a thriller with a protagonist that stands out from the rest, go and pick it up today!




You may also like:


The Good Samaritan The Good Samaritan, by John Marrs


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