🧩 Review – All The Lovely Pieces by J. M. Winchester 🧩

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Rating: 2.0/5.0 

Spoiler-free Synopsis:

The theme of this book is based on the Oedipus complex, which is essentially a disorder where a child develops psychosexual feelings of desire for the parent of the opposite sex. So, it is a son being sexually attracted to the mother or a daughter being sexually attracted to the father. (Note that this is not the Electra complex where a daughter competes with the mother for the father’s affection) 

Drew Baker, our protagonist has been on the run with her son for nine years, now. She has one goal. Protect her child and herself. To make sure they never fall back into the clutches of her abusive husband (the one with the disorder mentioned above) who happens to own a multi-billion dollar software company, Drew has to always keep moving and maintain a low-key profile. 

As in any other story, things don’t always work in our favour. Drew faces situations that force her to confront her demons and face the consequences, all while desperately trying to protect her son. 

Note: 

The review is going to have elements from the book that I have not included in the synopsis, that are not exactly spoilers but will give you a much more detailed insight into the characters involved. Read further at your own discretion.

Review:

This book was a suggestion on Kindle Unlimited and the moment I saw the name Winchester, I knew I was going to read it. Let’s face it, I am a hard-core Supernatural fan! 

If you are looking for a happy ending, this book isn’t for you. That being said, it doesn’t end tragically, so I count that as a win. This is a story with a theme so dark and complex, that it hugely impacts your mood and not for the better. 

Personally, it just left me feeling frustrated and sort of disappointed. This felt like a 480 minute episode of Criminal Minds(which I’d totally watch, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make here).

The potential this book initially had was incredibly intriguing. However, it’s been forced on to the most cliché and obvious path. There is an underlying lethargic feel to what we are exposed to in the book. The female characters having the exact same personalities and almost similar physical traits is something that I found myself getting exasperated with. 

That’s not the only thing these women have in common. Even their inner monologues are the same. There are so many occasions where I wasn’t sure whose POV I was reading. 

Also, monologue overdose!!! Subtlety really doesn’t seem to be our style, here.

Parallels:

In all the time I was reading this one, I kept wondering where it is that I read something that made me feel equally vexed. I definitely have read a book where exactly 3 women, like in this case, have nothing distinct about them except for their names. Then I remembered.

The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins. 

Mosaic-of-the-Soul