They Can’t All Be Winners

Discovering a new author presents a Catch-22 for the fanatical. Most likely you began by reading the newest, and arguably best, novel of an established author and therefore feel the need to read their entire collection of published works. However, once you begin reading backwards you realize you’re watching someone regress into a novice and feel like you were lied to. This isn’t the author you know, this is someone who clearly has a relative in publishing! I call this the John Green Effect, or the Rainbow Rowell Response.

Big Little Lies is probably my favorite read so far this year and I thoroughly enjoyed What Alice Forgot; it seemed like a no-brainer to read The Hypnotist’s Love Story. Then my sister read it and told me to brace myself for disappointment. If she hadn’t warned me I would probably give this one a 1 Star rating, but my tempered expectations have led me to grade on a curve.

Ellen O’Farrell is a hypnotherapist who meets a handsome widower, Patrick Scott, online; early in their relationship Patrick confesses to Ellen that he has a stalker. His ex-girlfriend, Saskia (which I chose to read as Sasha because wtf people that’s not a name), has been following Patrick’s ever move for the past three years. The more Ellen and Patrick’s relationship progresses the more obsessed Saskia gets with both of them.

“I don’t know how she feels about me, but I sort of like her. I mean, I’m sickened by her existence obviously, but I find her strangely compelling.”

The narration switches between a third person narrator for Ellen’s side of the story and a first person perspective for Saskia. The most interesting part of the book, and the closest to what I’ve come to expect as a Moriarty Twist, was trying to pin down which of Ellen’s patients was actually Saskia. However that was revealed in the middle of the story and wasn’t quite as Earth Shattering as it could have been. The book is mostly two women waxing poetic about a man that I came away feeling wasn’t worthy of either women’s affections.

In fact, the overwhelming reaction I had to Patrick was his unworthiness of this kind of fanatical behavior. He seemed like a whiny, short-tempered pill who used his dead wife as an excuse to be dismissive to both these women. Also, he loved to complain about Saskia but besides a half-assed attempt at the beginning of her obsession he never did anything to get the legal system involved.

Perhaps I am being too harsh but this book is only meant for a completionist. If you can’t imagine skipping a book written by someone who is becoming your favorite author then by all means take a shot; but if you haven’t read anything by the delightful Liane Moriarty I would suggest opening with What Alice Forgot and then getting lost in the wonder Big Little Lies – you can skip this one.