Book Review: Hunting Annabelle

Expected Publication: December 18, 2018
Pages: 336
👠👠

I was so intrigued on the premise of this book. The book is set in 1980's Austin, Texas. Sean Suh is originally from San Francisco, but after being released from psychiatric prison he moves to Texas with his mother to start fresh. There, he meets beautiful Annabelle (for all of five minutes), because very quickly Sean witnesses Annabelle being kidnapped. However, when Sean reports this to the police, he of course becomes a prime suspect because of his lurid past.  However, there is also the fact that he has a psychiatric condition, he is on multiple psycho-tropic drugs and this ultimately questions his overall reliability.

I am left utterly unconvinced. For starters, it took until about the 50% mark before the story really gained any steam; and even then, while the last half was slightly more readable, this book became completely non-sensical. Sure, it has some twists and turns that I didn't see coming, but I just don't buy it. I think some of that could have been fixed if the characterization wasn't so one dimensional. I wanted a hell of a lot more from Sean's past than what I actually got. For example, snippets from his childhood, and more details on his previous crimes and incarceration.

I also did not care at all for the POV being in first person. I get that part of the "attraction" may have been the ability to being in Sean's twisted head with his urges to kill, but I also think it is a major reason why some of the supporting characters (Annabelle and Nancy Suh) are not well fleshed out. It limits access to these characters thoughts and feelings, which ultimately made me feel as if I didn't know those characters at all. I really think this could have been a better book if told with a different POV.

The one theme that was well done is Sean's overall vulnerability as someone who suffers from a psychiatric condition. His vulnerability to his mother, health care providers and law enforcement. Which even though this book is set in the 80's, it still has a very real presence in mental health conversations today.

I really struggled to finish this one, and honestly just wish I hadn't.

Thanks to #NetGalley for my ARC.