Magpie by Elizabeth Day
5/3/22; 336 pages
Simon & Schuster
Magpie by Elizabeth Day is a highly recommended domestic psychological thriller.
In the first half of Magpie Marisa and Jake move in together
and plan to start a family immediately. Even though Jake's mother,
Annabelle, doesn't approve of Marisa, Marisa is sure they will have a
happy life together. With money being tight they decide to take on a
renter, Kate. It appears to be a great idea until Marisa notices that
Kate seems to be pushing personal boundaries and is overly familiar with
Jake. Marisa begins to feel threatened by her and is concerned about
what her future plans are involving Jake and their baby. The second half
of Magpie totally turns the plot upside down as it is told from Kate's point-of-view.
Suffice it to say that not much more can be said about the plot without spoiling it. I will mention that experienced readers are likely going to have some of
their very early plot twist predictions come true and I'm not completely comfortable with one
of the plot devices used. I can also affirm without any hesitation that
predictable or not, the writing is quite good and Day does create a
whole lot of tension while keeping the pace fast. The novel starts out
rather slow but the switch changes things. The ending is a bit
over-the-top, but will keep you glued to the pages. 3.5 rounded up
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