THE LOVE OF MY LIFE
Rosie Walsh
Pan McMillan
March 1, 2022
384 pages
Leo is a professional obituary writer. He is married to Emma, a semi-celebrity on BBC. Emma has cancer and Leo is about to write a “just in case” obituary for his wife. This opens the biggest can of worms that anyone can imagine. Doing his research, Leo finds a lot of surprises. Emma is not who she has pretended to be for the 10 years they have been married.
I have such mixed feelings about this book. The first part of the book is confusing and disjointed. I was ready to give up on it. Nothing was making sense. Then, I got to Part 2. Everything starts to fall into place. A well thought out, complicated plot starts to reveal itself.
Marine biology was quite prominent in the story. I did not figure out what the reference and detailed description of a crab skeleton (and other sea creatures) contributed to the story. If it was some sort of imagery, it was lost on me and could have been omitted.
The revealed plot is masterminded. It is convoluted. But, it is totally believable and understandable as little things are revealed, one by one. It may not be realistic, but then again, it could be realistic. Truth and real-life can be “stranger than fiction”! The story becomes first class domestic suspense.
There is not much else I can say without revealing major plot points. Others may not agree with me, but I think that if the storyline had been differently laid out, or the first part had been slightly less confusing, this could have been a 5 star book. It certainly held my attention once I got past that hurdle. I have reduced my rating by one star for this reason.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an Advance Readers Copy.
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