Summer Reading-The Other Typist

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How about this for a tagline? A haunting debut novel set against the background of New York City in the 1920s....

Sounds interesting right? Yeah, I thought so too. 

I acquired The Other Typist from a book swap held at a local restaurant where I live. I was taken in by the back cover summary. Words like prohibition, speakeasies, fascination and obsession grabbed me and I was looking forward to when I would have time to fall into this story. It was advertised as a thriller along the same lines as Gone Girl. I've not read Gone Girl, but I am familiar with this genre which is a combination of thriller and suspense. It is most often characterized by a "surprise" or shocking ending.

It is the story of Rose Baker a self described dignified lady who works with the police typing criminal interviews. Her life is ordinary and quite normal until another typist named Odalie Lazare is hired. Odalie introduces Rose to a life she has not ever experienced. Rose becomes entranced by Odalie's outgoing personality and her ability to live life on her own terms. However, Odalie has secrets and these secrets lead Rose into a situation from which she will never recover.

So yes it had suspenseful elements. Yes, 1920s New York came to life through the author's descriptive writing. Yes, the story is intriguing and keeps you guessing till the very end. The shocking twist had significant impact. However, the author doesn't just stop at the final twist in the story. After the final chapter, the author added an epilogue. Usually I enjoy an epilogue. Author's use these to give you a wrap up of the character's life following the end of the story. In this case, though the epilogue completely ruined the story for me. The author went and added  ANOTHER TWIST. 

But here's the thing, the additional twist was completely unnecessary.
 
Just when I thought the story was over and I understood what had happened between Rose and Odalie, the author's epilogue through a big giant monkey wrench at me that left me dazed and confused. I ended up closing the book feeling like I had no idea what I just read. Everything I thought I understood about what happened in the book went completely out the window. It made me want to go back and read it again, not because I liked it but because I wanted to see if I missed something. It honestly felt like I must have missed something for it to end the way it did.

Up until this point I had enjoyed the book. Even though the author's writing was often long winded, and caused a little boredom towards the middle, I felt I could overlook it because ultimately sticking it out to the end had been worth it. 

Until that epilogue.

Ya'll, It's been 24 hours and I'm still angry about that epilogue.

If you like getting to the end of a book and being left hanging by the author when it isn't part of a series, then this book is for you. If you like drawing your own conclusions about what actually happened in the story, then this book is for you. If you are like me and you like your books to have a conclusion that feels complete (even if it is part of a series) then you probably won't like this book.

Overall, good story, terrible ending. 


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