THE WAITING ROOM

THE WAITING ROOM

By Emily Bleeker

Not a great read, but not a terrible one. I slogged through it, and honestly, the reason I did was because of the several reviews I had read that indicated a twist at the end, and a couple of “I didn’t see that coming” remarks that piqued my interest more than the book itself. I found myself more engrossed with trying to figure out how the twist at the end would come about and if I could “see it coming” than any interest in the actual story. I could see quite a bit of what was to come, but I’ll admit, there was another twist at the end which I didn’t guess, and it really made the book more interesting in my eyes. In fact, I would have loved it if that had really been the focus of the whole story. I think that would have really made it an excellent novel.

I realize I’m writing in riddles here. The story is about a wife and mother who is so traumatized by the results of an auto accident that she loses her grip on day-to-day life. She finds herself unable to relate to her baby daughter and her mother moves in with her to help. At a certain point in the novel, both her mother and her daughter disappear. To avoid spoilers, I won’t go into more detail, but at this point in the book, some of you may be guessing at some of what’s going on. As mentioned, I mostly hung on to find out if my own suspicions were real or imagined. The story seemed a little contrived to me, but I can see how it could be considered somewhat intriguing. And there was that one point near the end that I thought was great.

Reviewed October 2018