“I hear the crack of his skull before the spattering of blood reaches me” is the first line of the successful stand-alone novel written by Colleen Hoover. Hoover is famous for her plot-twists, they stick with you for years and Verity is no exception. With its 4.40 average stars on goodreads (out of 5), it is a popular book to say the least. Verity is a psychological thriller with a sparkle of romance that is by many considered a nerve-racking book. It tells the story of a struggling author who gets the opportunity to co-write the rest of a famous book series for a seriously injured author. Going through the author Verity’s office, the main character instead ends up finding an autobiography…
The book leaves you with bone-chilling unanswered questions which can be fun to discuss among friends or hypothesize about on your own. Verity is one of those books that can be read multiple times and after the first read, and you will never be able to read it as the same. It is a clever book with morally-questionable characters and a great build up of suspense. It is about the difficulty you can experience trying to separate truth from fiction and authors from characters. You will not be the same person after reading Verity. Overall, this is really the perfect book to help you from a reading-slump! A small disclaimer, before starting this journey of a book - it can be good to look up the trigger warnings.
Good luck putting this book down, you will want to but can’t!
A short spoiler containing review of the book:
This book left me speechless, sitting and staring at a wall, contemplating life for a good ten minutes - at least! After all those crazy plot-twists I thought it was done, I felt so empty. What more could possibly happen in the last couple of pages? Oh boy, was I so wrong. Honestly, I should’ve known, considering Colleen Hoover is the author. The letter at the end of the book is what really made it the great book it is. Without it, it was still good, sure, but I love an ending that leaves you with another perspective of the book. It is really tempting to re-read it with the new perspective you get of it. So, now on to the big question, which truth was she manipulating? The manuscript or letter? Personally, I believe the manuscript to be the real deal. I believe the letter was just a last minute attempt to cover her tracks and to hinder the relationship that was forming between Lowen and her husband. We know from the manuscript how good of an author Verity is as well as her manipulation abilities. We have been warned. There is no way that letter was not just another manipulation tactic of hers. To quote The Neighbourhood, that captured the feeling of reading this book pretty well: “When you told me the whole story I felt like throwing up.” With that said, if you’ve read Verity: are you okay?
Other books recommended to read if you enjoyed Verity:
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
The Wife Between Us by Sarah Pekkanen
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
“Find what you love and let it kill you.” - Charles Bukowski
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