Tear Me Apart By J. T. Ellison
Published August 28, 2018 By MIRA
336 Pages
Affiliate Link: Buy On Amazon
From Publisher Via Goodreads: Tear Me Apart is the powerful story of a mother willing to do anything to protect her daughter even as their carefully constructed world unravels around them.
My Thoughts: Tear Me Apart has been high on my list of fall releases after reading and loving Lie to Me last year (My Review). I started this only knowing that it was about a competitive skier who crashes and finds out one shocking truth after another about her life. That’s really all you need to know and I’d avoid reading lengthy reviews and any more of the blurb before diving in.
The Suspense Builds
The skier is Mindy Wright whose very attentive parents have devoted their entire lives to making sure she has every advantage in the ski world. Mindy is set to qualify for the Olympic Team when she crashes on the slopes, followed shortly by everything else in her world crashing down around her.
I was pulled into this story quickly as all of the above happens in the first few pages. J.T. Ellison knows how to draw readers in with a fast pace. She doles out just enough initial secrets to make you wonder what’s going on and what else is to come. The overriding questions are…who’s lying and why? Mindy’s mom Lauren is at the center of the family drama and what she’s been hiding, as well as why, kept me quickly turning the pages. There’s also quite a bit of tension between Lauren and her sister Juliet who’s a DNA expert for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (and my favorite character in the book) which also created more questions for me.
The Structure
This psychological thriller is structured with alternating timelines and perspectives which I have to say did leave me feeling a little confused at times. It shifts between the family in present day Colorado and 2 teenage girls in the past at a psychiatric hospital in Nashville. This is always a tricky structure for me and in this case I found the back and forth tedious at times. It felt like it dragged out in places and I found myself feeling impatient with the way the story was unfolding. Without giving anything away, I was also surprised that, for me, the story felt predictable in the end.
Perhaps my expectations were too high after Lie to Me . I would say, however, that if you like the idea of family secrets, many lies, and a couple surprising betrayals then I’d recommend giving this one a try. There is definitely much to like with J. T. Ellison’s writing and I look forward to reading her next book!
Thanks to MIRA via Netgalley for my copy