His & Hers

I received an eARC of His & Hers by Alice Feeney from the publisher (Flatiron Books). His & Hers is scheduled for release on July 28, 2020.

At the heart of His & Hers is a murder investigation. Anna is a recently demoted news presenter for the BBC who is assigned to cover the story, which coincidentally happened in her home town. When she arrives, she learns that the victim is someone she knew well, and soon finds herself in the middle of the investigation.

Our other main character is Jack, a police investigator assigned to the case. We quickly learn that Jack knew the victim, as well, though he maintains that secret from the other investigators on the case.

His & Hers is told in chapters that alternate between the points of view of these two main characters. Inserted in some of their chapters is a third point of view, an unknown narrator who presents themselves as the murderer.

The strength of this novel lies in the characters. We have the two main characters, a group of friends from Anna’s high schools days, and the investigative team. Feeney does an excellent job of painting these characters, giving each of them distinctive traits and flaws. What she does exceptionally well is present them in a way that makes it clear none of them can be trusted. There was not a single character in this novel that I took at face value. It is clear that each of them has secrets and blemishes, though none of the characters flaunt their secrets, begging for attention from the reader. Their flaws remain tucked away, a layer beneath the surface that the reader continues to search for.

This uncertainty of who might be telling the truth and about what pulled me through the story, resulting in me not wanting to put the book down during the last half. This drive to finish lasted through the series of twists, turns, and surprises that led to the climax of the plot. There was a bump for me near the end, which one of the final reveals. I love when a mystery is resolved in a way that a single fact or line makes everything that came before fall neatly into place, when that single line allows me to piece together all the shards of story on my own and see the whole picture. This novel didn’t quite have that, and needed a bit of explanation in the final pages to pull the pieces together. Everything made perfect sense, nothing was out of place, it lacked that tiny touch of magic that is so hard to pull off. Looking back through the story, I can’t think of anything Feeney could have done differently, this explanatory bit was just a requirement for this story.

Overall, His & Hers was a can’t put it down novel with a convincing mystery and even more compelling characters. Prepare to question everything and everyone until the very last page.