Until The Day I Die

Author: Emily Carpenter
Genre: Suspense
Type: e-book
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
First Published: March 12, 2019
Opening Lines: "I was the one who insisted on the going-away party. Surprising exactly no one, I'm sure, because of how colossally bad an idea it was."

Book Description from GoodReads: From the bestselling author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls comes a riveting novel about a mother and daughter separated by grief, secrets and a conspiracy that threatens to destroy their lives.

If there’s a healthy way to grieve, Erin Gaines hasn’t found it. After her husband’s sudden death, the runaway success of the tech company they built with their best friends has become overwhelming. Her nerves are frayed, she’s disengaged, and her frustrated daughter, Shorie, is pulling away from her. Maybe Erin’s friends and family are right. Maybe a few weeks at a spa resort in the Caribbean islands is just what she needs to hit the reset button…

Shorie is not only worried about her mother’s mental state but also for the future of her parents’ company. Especially when she begins to suspect that not all of Erin’s colleagues can be trusted. It seems someone is spinning an intricate web of deception—the foundation for a conspiracy that is putting everything, and everyone she loves, at risk. And she may be the only one who can stop it.

Now, thousands of miles away in a remote, and oftentimes menacing, tropical jungle, Erin is beginning to have similar fears. Things at the resort aren’t exactly how the brochure described, and unless she’s losing her mind, Erin’s pretty sure she wasn’t sent there to recover—she was sent to disappear.

My Rating: 2.5 stars (aka 'just ok')

My Review: I had previously read and very much enjoyed Carpenter's book The Weight of Lies so I went into this book anticipating a gothic suspense read that would draw me in with some intriguing characters. 

Until The Day I Die has an interesting premise (I loved the idea of the Jax app even though I'm far from a techy gal) and a stunningly eye-catching cover but the execution of the story fell short for me in a few areas. The book had a very slow start with a large cast of characters but unfortunately, I didn't connect with them, especially Shorie and Erin. It also felt like a few of the tertiary characters were superfluous and didn't have much impact on the plot.  

The middle of the book picks up dramatically when the action ramps up for some nail-biting scenes. Unfortunately, there were also scenes that felt implausible (or much too convenient) adding to the book's incohesive feel. When you add in the epilogue which felt frustratingly extraneous, I didn't finish this book with all the bookish feels that I had expected.

This book had good bones, a beautiful cover and an interesting plot but overall, it was just an okay read for me. That said, I remain a fan of Emily Carpenter and eagerly await her next literary offering.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.