Author: Louise Jensen
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: June 2018
Genre: Thriller
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible
Description: One night can change everything.
‘I know it as soon as I wake up and open my eyes... Something is wrong.’
Her Saturday night started normally. Recently separated from her husband, Ali has been persuaded by her friends to go on a date with a new man. She is ready, she is nervous, she is excited. She is about to take a step into her new future. By Sunday morning, Ali’s life is unrecognizable. She wakes, and she knows that something is wrong. She is home, she is alone, she is hurt and she has no memory of what happened to her.
Worse still, when she looks in the mirror, Ali doesn’t recognize the face staring back at her…
My Thoughts: This was a true nail-biter and an excellent choice for thriller fans. Newly separated from her husband, Ali agrees to go on a date with a man she has been talking to online. When she wakes the next morning, she has no memory of the night before, but she is injured and covered in blood.
As if that were not terrifying enough, Ali no longer recognizes her own face in the mirror—or anyone else’s. That detail immediately raises the stakes and makes her situation feel even more vulnerable and unsettling. I would love to see this story adapted for the screen.
As the story unfolds, the reader learns that the person who hurt Ali is stalking her and knows about something terrible from her past. That thread made the tension especially effective because Ali’s prosopagnosia—face blindness—means the danger could be standing directly in front of her, and she still would not know who to fear.
The structure and pacing are excellent. I was invested in Ali’s situation from the beginning and stayed on edge, eager to see how everything would play out. The finale and big reveal were genuinely shocking and took me through a wide range of emotions.
The supporting characters also added to the suspense. Many of them felt unreliable, which kept suspicion shifting and made Ali’s fear more convincing. I felt tremendous empathy for her and, like Ali, was never sure who could be trusted.
My Final Verdict: The Date is a gripping, twist-filled thriller that kept me turning the pages from start to finish. Louise Jensen builds tension beautifully, using Ali’s fear, confusion, and vulnerability to create a story that feels both unsettling and impossible to put down. With its fast pacing, unreliable characters, and shocking reveal, this is a strong recommendation for readers who enjoy psychological thrillers with emotional impact and plenty of suspense.
Thank you to the publisher, Bookouture, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.
No comments:
Post a Comment