I was excited for this book because I was expecting a murder mystery and character that I would get to read about fighting like hell to right an impossible wrong that cost her friend her life. What I got was a book full of nostalgic memorabilia, a self indulgent and passive protagonist more worried about getting caught high than the possible wellbeing of a friend.

Moreover, with Betsy more invested in the relationship she has with a character she barely knows than the two closest friends/connections she has in Gainesville, her character is neatly impossible to like or empathize with after part one (as her guilt was so easily defused or forgotten one Gavin talked her down).

I was born in 1990, so a lot of the earlier stuff was lost on me which made me feel like this book is better suited for an older audience and readers who aren't looking for a very immersive book.

I did like that Caroline and Betsy eventually settle the rift between them and connect on their similarities, but honestly there wasn't much else about this book that I enjoyed.

This book might have been good if the editing were better. But I'm not entirely sure anyone edited the book at all.

Not for me.

Really entertaining. Never went in the direction I thought it was going to go.

Received via William Morrow Books/Harper Collins and Edelweiss in exchange for an completely unbiased review.
Also posted on Silk & Serif

The Drifter was a dark and thought provoking novel that took me a very, very long
time to get through. The unrelated details throughout this novel added realism to this novel in a way that made this book perhaps a little too real for me and resulted in many "breaks". The details evoked personal feelings that were perfectly related to the experiences of the three young friends Caroline, Betsy and Ginny who, although completely unalike, were best friends until the shining future of all three women are changed by one horrific night. I felt connected to the characters by virtue of experience from my own university days. My university days were not spent with sorority friends or even really socializing – but I do remember the excitement and expectation of Frosh Week and drunken nights spent in my mid-20s during a time when I still had absolutely no clue who I would be in life (and lets be honest, the only thing that has changed since those days is my excessive drinking habits!). The Drifter is written in a way that anyone can relate to characters that, written by another author, would be completely unrelatable.

Regardless of what other reviewers have said, the enormous amount of “useless” detail I’d learned about the daily life of our narrator only ensured that the ending of this novel could be understood on a deeper level. The mundane details that made this novel an woefully long read also made me love this novel - the characters, situations and their reactions were real thanks to the realism developed from all the boringly mundane details included by our narrator. I don't think the ending would have been as powerful without he long, plodding journey.

The summer in the early 90s that changed everything was just like any summer in the early 90s. The life of our narrator is destroyed and is forever slightly off axis until she can confront what really happened all those years ago.

My only complaint about this novel upon completion is the thematically depressing and dark narrator who, in the beginning is struggling to ‘fit in” and then spends several decades hiding a secret that slowly tears her sanity apart. The dark and twisted road that Betsy takes towards becoming a healthy individual after her friend is murdered was both difficult to read, and frustrating. I saw enough in Betsy to relate to her plight, but not enough to understand why she would keep such a secret for so many years. I also found it difficult to understand how anyone would continue to be in her life during her spiraling mental state, but perhaps Betsy was a better actress than she gave herself credit.

In the end, The Drifter was a depressing and beautiful novel about friendship, personal discovery and the deeply scarring effects of losing someone as a result of murder. Although many cannot understand the anguish of losing someone in these circumstances – I felt Lennon created a realistic and captivating narration of Overcoming and Acceptance.

I would not suggest reading this novel if you are looking for a quick read. The novel drags and spends enormous amounts of time describing Betsy’s life before and after the murder, her life’s development over twenty years and highlighting her deteriorating mental state. Very little happens for most of the book in terms of moving the plot along. The murder of her sorority sister is the major event of this novel, yet when we learn about the murderer and his fate, it is a side line to the drama of Betsy’s life - which hijacks the rest of the novel until the surprising conclusion. I expected the murder, the catching of the serial killer and the eventual closure for Betsy and those affected would be the focus of this story – but it isn’t. The focus of The Drifter is on a specific person and the effects of violent and unexpected crime has on her life.

Was The Drifter worth reading? Yes. Was is dark, depressing and emotional? Absolutely, but it was also inspiring to see the strength of friendship and the perseverance of the human condition.

This book will appeal to readers who enjoy psychological dramas, novels with deep meaning and rich character development. This novel is dark and deals with sad/uncomfortable situations that can be often difficult to read due to the exceptionally subversive writing style. I would recommend this book to readers seeking a "meatier" read with intense meaning and dark subject matter.

 

**Side note: The Drifter is in part based on true college murders and the author's own experiences in a sorority.

 

I am not sure why they are marketing this book as a Thriller/Mystery because it's really not either of those.. It's more of a book about friendship and slightly about trauma and how it changes us..slightly because she could have expanded on this more and I would have enjoyed the book more, but she chose to expand more on the outfit details instead. Still, this was an enjoyable mostly mindless quick read.

Received via William Morrow Books/Harper Collins and Edelweiss in exchange for an completely unbiased review.
Also posted on Silk & Serif

The Drifter was a dark and thought provoking novel that took me a very, very long
time to get through. The unrelated details throughout this novel added realism to this novel in a way that made this book perhaps a little too real for me and resulted in many "breaks". The details evoked personal feelings that were perfectly related to the experiences of the three young friends Caroline, Betsy and Ginny who, although completely unalike, were best friends until the shining future of all three women are changed by one horrific night. I felt connected to the characters by virtue of experience from my own university days. My university days were not spent with sorority friends or even really socializing – but I do remember the excitement and expectation of Frosh Week and drunken nights spent in my mid-20s during a time when I still had absolutely no clue who I would be in life (and lets be honest, the only thing that has changed since those days is my excessive drinking habits!). The Drifter is written in a way that anyone can relate to characters that, written by another author, would be completely unrelatable.

Regardless of what other reviewers have said, the enormous amount of “useless” detail I’d learned about the daily life of our narrator only ensured that the ending of this novel could be understood on a deeper level. The mundane details that made this novel an woefully long read also made me love this novel - the characters, situations and their reactions were real thanks to the realism developed from all the boringly mundane details included by our narrator. I don't think the ending would have been as powerful without he long, plodding journey.

The summer in the early 90s that changed everything was just like any summer in the early 90s. The life of our narrator is destroyed and is forever slightly off axis until she can confront what really happened all those years ago.

My only complaint about this novel upon completion is the thematically depressing and dark narrator who, in the beginning is struggling to ‘fit in” and then spends several decades hiding a secret that slowly tears her sanity apart. The dark and twisted road that Betsy takes towards becoming a healthy individual after her friend is murdered was both difficult to read, and frustrating. I saw enough in Betsy to relate to her plight, but not enough to understand why she would keep such a secret for so many years. I also found it difficult to understand how anyone would continue to be in her life during her spiraling mental state, but perhaps Betsy was a better actress than she gave herself credit.

In the end, The Drifter was a depressing and beautiful novel about friendship, personal discovery and the deeply scarring effects of losing someone as a result of murder. Although many cannot understand the anguish of losing someone in these circumstances – I felt Lennon created a realistic and captivating narration of Overcoming and Acceptance.

I would not suggest reading this novel if you are looking for a quick read. The novel drags and spends enormous amounts of time describing Betsy’s life before and after the murder, her life’s development over twenty years and highlighting her deteriorating mental state. Very little happens for most of the book in terms of moving the plot along. The murder of her sorority sister is the major event of this novel, yet when we learn about the murderer and his fate, it is a side line to the drama of Betsy’s life - which hijacks the rest of the novel until the surprising conclusion. I expected the murder, the catching of the serial killer and the eventual closure for Betsy and those affected would be the focus of this story – but it isn’t. The focus of The Drifter is on a specific person and the effects of violent and unexpected crime has on her life.

Was The Drifter worth reading? Yes. Was is dark, depressing and emotional? Absolutely, but it was also inspiring to see the strength of friendship and the perseverance of the human condition.

This book will appeal to readers who enjoy psychological dramas, novels with deep meaning and rich character development. This novel is dark and deals with sad/uncomfortable situations that can be often difficult to read due to the exceptionally subversive writing style. I would recommend this book to readers seeking a "meatier" read with intense meaning and dark subject matter.

 

**Side note: The Drifter is in part based on true college murders and the author's own experiences in a sorority.

 

This was less than okay book for me. The premise sounded like it was going to be a book that would hook me from the beginning.

It did. But after that first chapter, it all went downhill.

I liked seeing the different perspectives, what little there was. Besty's part seemed to go on and on and on, in one extra-long flashback. It was intriguing in the beginning, but after a few pages, it was just so full of details that it became too heavy.

I like descriptions as much as the next person, maybe even a little more so. There was detail, after detail, after detail. About everything! It became too much for me.

Example: (from the ARC) "It starts north of Detroit at the Canadian border and snakes down to Ohio past Toledo and Dayton, further south to Lexington, KY, before it passes through the depressed west Tennessee mountains into Atlanta and Macon until it crosses the state line into absolute empty, impossible green space." (page 14). This is talking about Interstate 75. A freeway in all its glory.

Because I was so bogged down with the minute details, I didn't feel much of the thriller aspect of this debut novel. I think I was expecting more than what I received. With that being said, I would definitely give Christine Lennon another try. Her prose was beautifully written, and at times it was gorgeous. I would like to see what she comes up with next.

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.