The Girl in the Castle. James Patterson and Emily Raymond. 2022. [September] 368 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: It starts with a girl, half naked and screaming. Even though it's midtown Manhattan, in January, the girl is wearing only a thin white T-shirt over a black lace bra. She slaps at the air like she's fighting an enemy only she can see.
Premise/plot: Hannah Doe [Hannah Dory] is desperate for "you" to believe her. [By you, I mean both fictional characters in the book and, you, the reader.] Her story seems absolutely impossible. She lives in two times--2023 and 1347. So she says. In the 2023 setting, she's a patient in a Psych ward [Belman Pscyh]. It is not her first time. Almost always she's brought in by the police. In the 1347 setting, she's a peasant who would do just about anything to keep her family [what remains of it] from starving. Her village is divided into haves and have-nots, and, well, the baron has everything, and almost everyone else has nothing. Her plan has her rebelling against the powers that be--the baron--and stealing food. When she's caught--along with the other peasants she's convinced to join her in the revolt, well, things don't quite go according to plan. But even though she's gained a little in this process--at what cost.
Jordan, a psych student [from a local college] is observing/assisting at Belman. He takes a VERY close interest in Hannah's case. [In my personal opinion, he crosses the line time and time again. He doesn't seem professional. Then again, he's just a student. But still. Like who's supervising him??? And can't they tell he seems to be falling in love with one of the patients????]
My thoughts: I read through most of this one in one day. However, I reached a point where I was running out of pages--chapters--and I knew that there was absolutely no way this one could resolve even remotely decently or satisfactorily. And by that I don't mean I had a preconceived notion of how the ending should play out. I didn't. I mean it was like the author(s) were rambling along and realized--OH NO, WE ONLY HAVE TWELVE PAGES LEFT TO RESOLVE THE STORY WHAT SHOULD WE DO. And then they just kept rambling on hoping that somehow, someway it would work itself out. But I feel like there was no plan. I think a crisis point was reached and then they brainstormed, HEY, WE'LL JUST USE THE LAST FEW PAGES TO FLASH AHEAD FIVE YEARS. Jordan and Hannah will see each other across the room and let's fade to black. That will be awesome, won't it??? NOPE. Not awesome.
I didn't love this one. Don't expect this one to be sci-fi or fantasy at all. This is 100% just a novel of someone having a mental breakdown and losing her complete grasp on reality. The narrator is unreliable from start to finish. [Which is one reason why the flash ahead several years ending just fell flat to me.] The language is definitely crude. I don't fault it for that. Just some readers like to be warned so they can make the best decision for themselves.
I do think readers need to know in advance that it is very RAW and full of suicidal talk, suicide attempts, actual suicides, etc. It is a DARK and GRIM book. Again, some readers may seek this out and find it a good read. Others really do need a trigger warning because of the sensitive nature of this one.
© 2022 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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