Not for me but a lot of others enjoyed it. ( )

A very puzzling read for me this one. Jessie works in a charity shop, has no friends and is single. She also appears to be stalking a, quite obviously, married man. At this point I was a bit confused, did I mention there’s also a woman locked up against her will so there’s obviously a baddy on the scene somewhere. My advice to you would be just go with it because after a confusing start it develops nicely into a great physiological suspense.
Jessie gets sucked into Gus’ life, far too easily in my opinion but it’s not unrealistic. She’s needy and vulnerable, he’s manipulative and he has two of the greatest children ever to grace a novel. Children are quite often background characters in books like this, victims to be protected but these two are fabulous, well rounded and provide a great deal of amusement. The regular flashbacks/forwards to the imprisoned woman add greatly to the story as well and led me right up the garden path as I completely misread them.
It’s not the most original read but I thoroughly enjoyed it especially the confusion and plot changes due to Jessie’s misunderstanding of a Polish accent, a great touch. The ending was a bit predictable and the twist didn’t work entirely, I guessed most but not all of what was going on, however it was a very entertaining read and I will be looking for more from this author.
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Jessie has a fear of feathers. A phobia, really, total full-on medical name for it and everything fear of feathers. That’s where it starts.

Oh, wait. No. The book starts with a woman locked in some sort of box or vault or something. Readers aren’t sure because the space is dark. And the narrative doesn’t return to the box or vault except for a very few times.

So, the book whiplashes between a heavy, terrorizing scene and one that’s smarmily funny. Watch out, because these same weaknesses will show up again. The lady in the box isn’t visited enough to justify having her be at the opening, yet if we didn’t know she was in there the narrative wouldn’t have nearly as much drive.

Or would it? The rest of the book, Jessie’s story and the narrative flow and the characters and how the characters develop, are all quite enjoyable. How did it turn out that the lady in the box had to show up? Was this a publisher pushing the author to do something that wasn’t in the original draft, and the author caved because a contract with changes to the novel is better than no contract? Or were these scenes part of the original concept but haven’t been handled well by the author?

Interesting things to think about if you like to think about those kinds of things. But don’t let that stop you from reading this book. It’s a better-than-average take on the somewhat funny, self-denigrating yet more than capable female protagonist who stumbles on a mystery that must be solved. In time for the lady in the box to live, preferably, but since readers don’t really need to know that to enjoy this story, we could just overlook that, yes?

4 stars

If you like strong female protagonists, check out [b:Beloved: A Sensual Noir Thriller|31159964|Beloved A Sensual Noir Thriller|Laine Cunningham|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1469650329s/31159964.jpg|23316671]. ( )

The Day She Died by Catriona McPherson is a recommended creepy story of psychological terror.

In The Day She Died Jessie Constable is a loner who suffers from pteronophobia, the fear of feathers, and works at a charity shop in Dumfries, Scotland. She has been watching a customer, Gus King, and ends up giving him a ride home when he is distraught and seemingly unable to function. Once at his home with his two kids she learns that his wife, Becky, left him, but soon after that it is discovered that Becky has died in a car crash. Jessie finds herself unable to say no to Gus and spends the night caring for his kids and listening to him. Jessie soon finds herself spending all her free time with Gus, but questions are beginning to emerge and make her wonder what is really going on, especially when she meets her Polish immigrant neighbors who are terrified and looking for Becky's best friend who has also gone missing.

Opening with a woman entombed somewhere, this novel does a good job building suspense and allowing the terror and questions to slowly start to accumulate. I totally accepted the pteronophobia and the problems that it could create for anyone suffering from it, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that Jessie should have been smarter. I simply couldn't accept her being sucked into Gus' world so easily.

I found myself repeatedly asking "Why on earth are you hanging around this weird man, Jessie, and allowing him to take advantage of you?" And thinking, "Boundaries, honey. Your years of therapy should have taught you that you need to set them." I'd like to think that most women are smarter than that and wouldn't just take off with a stranger, agree to care for his children, and accepting her insertion into his life as if it is a given. That alone would give most people pause.

In some ways the climax makes up for some of my questioning, but not all of it since I figured it out early in the novel.

Disclosure: I received an advanced reading copy of this book for my Kindle from the publisher.
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AUTHOR: McPherson, Catronia
TITLE: The Day She Died
DATE READ: 01/1/16
RATING: 3/C
GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS Mystery / 2014 / Midnight Ink / 301 pgs
SERIES/STAND-ALONE: SA
CHARACTERS AUTHOR: Jessie Constable/ 30 yr old, single, works in charity shop suffers from pternophobia (fear of being tickled by feathers
TIME/PLACE: Present/ UK
FIRST LINES It was already a hell of a day.

COMMENTS: UGH!! Didn't like this one, I mean I really didn't like this one. First off, this author has come across my radar as someone to read … not sure why. I couldn't find anything to engage myself in … the characters were not likeable -- they weren't actually ones you hated … just didn't care about them. And the whole fear of feathers thing … for me it was a new word to learn and really that's all. The mystery … well, that wasn't there either. From the beginning things weren't right and you pretty much knew where it was going. Now, I admit, I didn't have it all figured out but enough of it was there to take away from the suspense. Let's just leave it at that… I do have some of her other books that are historical & maybe I will like those. ( )