What Lies Between Us by John Marrs

Overview

Finished- 10/28/24 Platform - Kindle Unlimited

Hmmm, what to say about this book? In the end, I do have to say that I enjoyed it. I struggled getting through it, though, because of the bouncing around on the time period and the perspectives. Maggie, the overprotective, caring mother willing to go to great lengths for Nina, her daughter, who is unaware of the evil that resides in her.   She was being held captive in the attic by Nina, forced to live attached to a chain, with no contact to the outside world other than a small window.  It was hard at times to figure out what was really going on because with each perspective, the other is the villain of their story.  It all starts when Nina was 13 and her father leaves them. It creates a cascade of events that if that fatal night had been handled different, then they may have been able to make it out of this tragic story. 

There is just one lesson I have learned from the life we share. And it is this: everything that is wrong with me is wrong with you too. We are one and the same. When I die, your flame will also extinguish.

STOP HERE AND READ THE BOOK IF YOU'D LIKE. THE NEXT PART CONTAINS SPOILERS, OR BE A LITTLE REBEL LIKE I KNOW YOU ARE AND READ ON.

****SPOILERS****

In the end, the son that Nina was told had died in birth, was alive. She captured him to keep in her basement. Maggie was still trapped in the attic, riddled with cancer.  Maggie managed to steal a book of matches, deciding to burn the house down, killing herself as a way to finally escape her daughter. She was completely unaware that her grandson was 2 stories below her, chained up. They both died and when the police investigated, they found them still chained up. When Nina was questioned, she fell into her fugue state where the world was slowly turning back. The same sate she fell into when she attacked her son and killed her father. Because of the Maggie's final act, Nina was finally caught and will be brought to justice. her actions starting that night when she was 13, caused her and her mother's life, to slowly fall apart. It was revealed at the end, that the father never sexually assaulted Nina, he only told her that he had fallen out of love with the mother and was planning on leaving them. Nina couldn't bear the thought of sharing him, so she attacked and killed him. Maggie never questions why she did that, only assumed her husband must've done the unthinkable to her. Nina has an evil in her from the very start, and it wasn't based on trauma caused by the father. This book had you thinking one thing, and the next chapter it had you questioning everything. It was a roller-coaster of emotions and it was hard to follow at times. I do understand that the way the book was written was to allow the gradual unfolding of the story and to allow for better comprehension of why the characters acted the way they did. I just feel it made it not a smooth story to read, resulting in me taking longer to read it. (A full week!) Overall, I give it 3 stars, it was a very interesting book that really made you think about what you might do for your own daughter to protect her.