Day of the Accident by Nuala Ellwood

Genre: psychological thriller. Stars from Goodreads: 4.21. Stars from me: 4.

I didn’t choose to review Day of the Accident based on its description. In fact, having read the description I nearly dismissed the book. I mistrust too entangled stories. There’s always a risk that the author created a head-spinning start that will not be graciously untangled in the end. That is not the case with Day of the Accident. Every bit of this story about a family tragedy, a woman after coma and a missing person gets explained.

What I liked in the book

The writing

What drew me to the book was the provided excerpt. From the first lines I trusted the author and I knew she will tell the story well regardless of the story itself. The writing flows. There’s no silly suspense that interrupts an action, there are no simplistic dialogues, no unnecessary details.

The voice of the main character

It is real. Her emotions are genuine and raw. In thrillers it’s usually the story that grips you but in Day of the Accident it is also the main character’s voice and your wish for her to be fine.

What I liked less

Implausible choices

I had problems with the choices some characters made. Even with all the background information it was hard to imagine a person who would behave this way in provided situations.

Melodramatic moments

I predicted all twists long before the book was over. That’s why I found some of the dialogues dragging and melodramatic. In literature characters tend to sound dumb when a story is obvious to everybody but them.

Final thoughts

Day of the Accident is way better than many other thrillers I recently read. It will be enjoyed by anybody who’s looking for a gripping fast-paced story, and of course by those who value high quality narrative. I’m giving the book solid four stars.

Day of the Accident will be available for purchase on February 21st, 2019. I’m thanking the publishers for my copy that I received in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.