Providence ~ Caroline Kepnes

Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: Lenny
ISBN: 9780399591433
384 pages
Source: Publisher via LibraryThing

I was given an early copy of Providence from the publisher through LibraryThing and I was excited but I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I thought I was taking a walk on the wild side, reading something by a writer acclaimed by Stephen King and known for her thrill and suspense.

I’m not usually that kind of gal.

But no one said anything about Lovecraft, New England, nor the emotional allegory of the universal fear of hurting the people you love the most. This had far more to do with the intricacies of intimacy than it did horror.

The book shifts through three voices: Jon (kidnapped as a young teen and then released four years later), Chloe (Jon’s friend who was never able to let him go while he was missing and others moved on), and Eggie (the obsessive cop who somehow finds himself wrapped up in their story, years later).

It’s one of those great stories that seems to start at separate ends of the earth and as the reader watches, threads begin to pull together, weaving this excellent and intricate tapestry of dazzling artwork.

One of the themes that stuck out to me (and maybe this is because I just read through the Shatter Me series with a similar theme) is the fixation on being unable to allow ourselves to get close to others. When Jon returns from his ordeal, he seems to be in possession of a kind of horrific superpower that will fatally injure anyone he gets close to.

I think, to some extent, we feel like that in one way or another, as humans. That is, perhaps we all feel fatally flawed beneath layers and pull up to vulnerability with the people we most want to do so with is terrifying.

Haha, or maybe that’s just my own analysis.

As a sort of frivolous aside, the entire book takes place in and around New England and as y’all well know, your girl spent her first 18 years of life there, so that was neat. There may have even been a reference to the mall where I spent most of my teen years. Woohoo, Nashua! And for the people who are rolling their eyes at the number of times these characters go to Dunkin Donuts? I assure you that is a very concrete reality.

Anywho, I really enjoyed the book and I’m a little bummed that I have to wait until June 18th  for everyone else to get excited about it. I’ll probably post another bit about it prior to the release but I just enjoyed it so much, I had to gush.