Claire, Darling
A Novel
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4.4 • 11 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“In this taut psychological thriller, one woman’s desperate quest for answers reveals just how far she’s willing to go for love—or revenge. I devoured this book . . . utterly engrossing!”—Liv Constantine, New York Times bestselling author of The Next Mrs. Parrish
She’s been ghosted. But she won’t be forgotten.
Claire is excited to drop off a surprise workday lunch for her fiancé, Noah. It’s their anniversary, after all. But when the receptionist tells her that no one with Noah’s name works there, Claire thinks there must be a mistake.
Noah isn’t picking up her calls. Her texts go unanswered. It turns out Noah has a different life . . . one with a beautiful girlfriend, a beautiful house. Claire was never really in the picture.
Desperate to speak to Noah and convince him to return to their dream life, Claire plunges into a nightmarish journey of obsession that submerges her deeper into the murky waters of her own past—a past dominated by a manipulative mother who shattered her sense of self.
Will Claire break free from the ghosts that haunt her? Or will they become more costly than any of Noah’s lies?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kazumi's middling debut tracks the swift downfall of 30-something Londoner Claire Arundale. After a blissful year of dating, Claire's boyfriend, Noah Coors, has proposed, and her dreams of having a home and family finally seem to be within reach. On impulse, Claire decides to surprise Noah at his office one afternoon, and is shocked to learn he's no longer employed there. Soon, she discovers he's also blocked her number. A frantic internet search reveals that Noah has a beautiful long-term girlfriend named Lilah, and the two of them share a massive home in a posh neighborhood. Devastated, Claire starts digging up all she can about Noah, desperate to know if she's just one in a long line of women he's deceived. Then Lilah is brutally murdered, and Claire becomes the police's main person of interest. Despite sturdy prose and some gripping courtroom scenes, the narrative is marred by clichéd, predictable reveals. Kazumi's decision to sprinkle in excerpts from Claire's diary telegraphs a major twist while doing little to illuminate the character's psychology. This fails to make much of an impression.
