The Basic Book Bitches

Review by Emily

On her deathbed, Beth’s mom issues the warning “Your Father didn’t disappear. Don’t trust…” but dies before she can finish her warning. Beth’s siblings, Michael and Nicole show up too late to be there with their mom, but just in time to help go through all of the items she left behind in the house. The siblings stumble across a VHS home recording and decide to pop it in and stroll down memory lane. This is a decision they soon regret as they realize this isn’t a standard home video, as they soon realize their parents shared a dark secret.

This book reaches out and grabs you from the beginning. I NEEDED to know what happened to the girl on the VHS. I had my suspicions about a couple of things pretty early on and was sort of right, there were, however, twists that I never would have dreamed up in a million years. Bodies just kept piling up in this one. And with every new body, you had to turn the pages faster just to find out what was going to happen. The big reveal at the end was shocking but also validating and I appreciate that in a book. Overall this was a fast-paced read and I would recommend it to those who enjoy a mystery with heart behind it. I would caution that there is drug addiction in this book and some may not enjoy that so just a heads up.

“Some things you have to wear, like guilt and grief and old jackets left behind by loved ones who’ve passed.”