Book Review: Takes One to Know One by Susan Isaacs

Yeah, so this is a book about a former FBI agent who retires and becomes a suburban housewife who is so bored with her life that she starts eyeballing a neighbor as a Person of Interest. She can’t tell if she’s trusting her well-honed instincts or just, well, bored.

I vote for bored. I don’t care what the revelations throughout the story say or what the neighbor is actually up to. Want to know why? Because if I was living her life, as told in the book, I’d be bored too. I was, in fact. So bored that I literally had to force myself to turn pages until I finally realized that I Just. Didn’t. Care. And that’s when I stopped and called it…

I just couldn’t get into this one. The characters never grabbed me, the plot (such as I found it) never engaged me, the credibility never hit green (or even an extreme red such that I wanted to suspend disbelief). It just felt flat, from the opening gambit. I’m coming off of a string of VERY strong thrillers full of action and secrets and lies and misdirection. It is entirely possible that this one was just the wrong book at the wrong time for me. But it’s also possible that this writer’s style (dry to the point of Sahara) just didn’t resonate with me.

My review copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley.