Another good book to read: With Malice

With Malice, by Eileen Cook, is a story about a teenage girl named Jill Charron and the death of her best friend, Simone McIvory. Jill is a shy girl who has a bright future ahead of her, which includes attending Yale University and the opportunity to go to Italy for four weeks to study the fine art and architecture.

Simone is a fun, outgoing girl who decides to tag along with Jill on her once in a lifetime opportunity. When on this adventure, the girls are involved in a car accident that results in the death of Simone. When Jill wakes up in a hospital with a broken leg and brain damage she is left to piece together the last six weeks of her life that are now missing.

Jill is suffers from amnesia and has no recollection of what happened in Italy or between Simone and her. All she knows is what she is being told and what she is reading online. During her time of recovery, not only does she have to deal with her injuries, but also the fact that people are accusing her of murdering her best friend.

While Jill is convinced that It was just an accident, others are not so sure. Jill is left to work toward regaining her memory and deciphering what is actually true versus what she is being told. Was the death of Simone really an accident or is there more to the story?

Author Eileen Cook is an instructor with the Simon Fraser University Writer’s Program. Cook lives in Vancouver with her husband and two dogs. When she is not writing she enjoys watching hockey and knitting. She is the author of multiple novels including, The Hanging Girl, Remember, Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood and many others. A fun fact about Cook and her writing is that her books are available in eight languages and some of her book have been considered for tv/ movies.

In my opinion, I thought this was a satisfying read. The book kept a steady pace throughout and I was never bored while reading. The book had me hooked by the first chapter and was full of mysteries and curve balls throughout the novel. While reading you get to try to uncover what really happened and follow along with the main character as she unravels the truth.

The only thing that I was not a fan of was the ending because, while it was good, it was confusing and required me to reread a few pages to make sense of things. It seemed like a big build up just to be left with a quick and rushed ending.

Overall, I thought the book was really enjoyable. It was a good read that kept me engaged and interested. There were parts that made me want to keep reading to find out what happened and to find out more about who the characters really are. I would definitely recommend this book to others and I plan on reading other novels by this author.