"Verity" by Colleen Hoover (2018)

[This review is spoiler free]

Nothing ever good comes out of a job offering a substantial amount of money. There's always a catch. Take a note for a future reference. Lock Every Door; The Turn of the Key. And now Verity.

When I finished the book, I was like:

Verity follows Lowen Ashleigh, a reclusive, unknown writer with a failing career and finances who recently lost her mother to cancer. She accepts a tempting offer to co-write and continue the series of a famous writer called Verity. Of course, she doesn't accept right away, but the man [who comforted her after she witnessed the death of a random dude in an accident, the man who happened to be going to the same meeting that day who happened to be Verity's husband] is too charmingly persuasive. She drives to the Verity's house to pick up everything related to the stories so that she can make a layout of the remaining books in the series. When she reaches the house, she discovered that Verity is in a coma...

This is pretty much how the 336-page-long book starts. It was a quick, quick read. I really enjoyed the writing style, but I didn't expect how mature and graphic the content was since this is my first experience reading a book by Colleen Hoover. All I ever knew about the author was that she wrote YA fiction or new adult fiction. So, this was a shock to me. Not that I mind such content if the plot is worth it. 

The book is linear in its approach. It doesn't sidetrack. It doesn't stretch a section of the story at the expense of other sections; the chapters are equal and short. And the choice of diction is well done: completely comprehensible and not pretentious.

I have mixed opinions regarding the characters. Lowen, for example, wasn't the kind of character I'd root for; many of her choices were poor. Yes, I related to her at the beginning, being a struggling writer such as myself with no fanbase before I decided to quit once and for all... but the way she decided to handle things at the end... well, I'm not a fan. Jeremy, on the other hand, is painted two-dimensionally. Hoover has 'bespoke tailored' him to be the perfect husband. Who'd buy that?! That's the reason I had my suspicions wrapped around him right from the get-go [don't worry. This is not a spoiler]. As for Verity, for the sake of not spoiling anything, I'm not going to talk about her.

As for the ending, well, I understand there are mixed reviews concerning it. It's a hit-and-miss; either readers may like it or not. Personally, I'm inclined to say nothing about it. I mean, yes, it's totally unexpected, I get that, but the premise of the plot promised something more. When I reached the ending, it felt flat, like where the hell did all that momentum go?! While I was reading, I thought of so many cool and extreme hypotheses to figure out Verity... but I got nothing except for a meh ending. But, I must point out, there's a slight chance, the ending is open. If that's the case, then I'm good with that. In fact, I think it's brilliant.

One of the major issues I've had with the plot is [spoiler alert] how could anyone fake being in a coma. To borrow Jeremy's words "It doesn't make sense". No one can hold still for minutes, let alone hours. They're bound to make a move, any move, at least involuntarily. Besides, there are procedures for doctors to check on coma patients, the Glasgow Coma Scale, for instance. I'm sure that for such a critical medical case, a doctor will examine her occasionally at home to see if there's progress. S/He would examine her reflexes to stimuli, be it auditory/visual/physical. She will make a response: her pupils contracting or her knee jerking. It's a given. [end of spoiler]. I could overlook this detail, but the whole book is based on Verity's state.

Summary:

Verity is like the new Gone Girl... except it's not. It's a thriller/horror. It's extremely disturbing and equally disgusting. It's understandable that many readers would find it difficult to continue reading, but the ending would explain why it only has to be written that way. 

Anyway, it's a story about lust, obsession, parenting... but the heart of it is about the process of creative writing. I'd recommend Verity for readers who like disturbing thrillers with a not-so-bad ending.