“The fear all men have that there’s something inside us that shifts, and turns. A living thing, once dormant, stirring now, and filled with rage.”

Let me tell you a secret…

Good reveals in a book come with a touch of beauty, finesse, and excellent timing. So when you allude to something at the beginning of a book, and then reveal it half way in…. It better be good.

Kit is in line for a prestigious grant position, only three of a handful are set to receive it. All her hard work since high school, and the infamous Diane Fleming coming into her life, might finally pay off. Before any announcements can be made, Kit’s worst nightmare comes true when Diane appears in the very same lab, bringing the past back to haunt Kit as she remembers Diane’s haunting confession in high school that changed both their lives. Can Kit trust Diane again or will her dreams come crashing down?

“In some animal part of my brain, I guess I thought looking her up might somehow summon her. So I never did. And she came anyway.”

I will start with the good things about Give Me Your Hand. Abbott’s research into chemistry and biology felt spot on. I’ve worked in a few labs, biology and physics, and her overall feeling as a woman in the lab rang true. I’ve had some of the same gender attacks that Kit experienced at times in the lab. Abbott also sprinkled in the perfect amount of technical terms without making the reader confused or bogged down. Just enough to paint the reader a picture.

A lot of times writers want to throw in everything they learned because they spent all the time researching and don’t want the work to go for not. It’s another iceberg. Show only the tiniest portion, and leave the rest for yourself.

Abbott’s overall story was a bust though.

Yup…. that’s all the good stuff I have for you today. I won’t even hide my rating. (1.5 stars)

Attempting a thriller, Abbott’s build up and reveal were the biggest let downs.

“My mom always says, you don’t have a self until you have a secret.”

Most of the story is based around a secret. It’s mentioned early on, and has a lot of suspense around it. Reading along, Abbott keeps alluding to how grand the secret is, building up more anticipation. What didn’t work, was that the secret was staring the reader right in the face. Paying even the tiniest of attention, one can easily figure out this grand secret. By the time it’s finally revealed, 50% in, there’s a huge let down.

The whole first half of the story felt built around this moment, the big reveal. Abbott spent a very long time working on the backstory, flipping from present to past. Bleeding the two times into one. Though they both played into one another, the struggle of seeing past Kit and present Kit together left a huge gap in Kit’s personality. Young Kit felt more fearless. She did and said things that no longer matched future Kit, leaving future Kit to feel lost and altogether a different person. Ten years did pass, I guess change could happen, but as a writer it’s important to pay attention. Readers will sit there comparing and finding all the flaws.

And, sticking with the character problems, Abbott’s characters were not true to themselves. Many times I questioned the motives and actions some of the side characters took. Seriously, they led the suspense of the story along, dragging out some unbelievable twists. But that’s the point. They were unbelievable because the characters never would have done those things. Especially with the break down at the end. Added in dramatics.

“When you get away with something it’s yours only, forever. Heavy and irremediable.”

Abbott wanted to explain why Diane was who she was. She wanted to spell out the story word for word. Which led to the final reveal at the end. Ok, I didn’t see that one coming, but looking back it was a little obvious. It was another let down. It gave me a bad taste in my mouth.

In all, I’m surprised I actually finished this book. I put it down always questioning if I should pick it up again. Knowing that I could count this towards my reading goal kept me going.

My next book is the great Britt-Marie Was Here and it’s another book club read. I loved A Man Called Ove and Backman’s style of storying telling. I can’t wait to share it with you all on here. If you want to remotely join in with my book club, visit the book club page. I’ll be updating the books every month. When you see the book review pop up, start a discussion below and we can all join in.

Happy reading.

Love Kait

Reading Challenge: 89/100