Couldn't put it down and part of that was because I have never been more infuriated by a character more than I was by Sean Suh. I found myself hoping that this was not the rough outline of a person that the author knows in real life because he may be the stupidest person I have ever read.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Harlequin-Mira in exchange for an honest review.

It is so hard for me to pin down how I felt about this book. On the one hand, I felt it was fairly well-written and I was definitely engaged throughout most of it. On the other hand, I absolutely hated the ending and felt like it got very rambly and repetitive about 50% of the way through.

One thing I would like to make clear is that this should definitely be considered a YA thriller. Hunting Annabelle is about a teenager named Sean with severe mental health difficulties (labelled schizophrenia but as a psychologist, I'm not entirely convinced). Sean meets a girl called Annabelle, goes on a date with her and then sees her get kidnapped in front of his eyes. He goes straight to the police but due to his mental health difficulties and some dark things from his past, they don't believe him. He then decides to take matters into his own hands and investigates her disappearance.

For the first half or so of this book, I was very engaged and intrigued by the story. I don't really enjoy reading thrillers with unreliable narrators anymore because I tend to just switch off and wait until the author reveals what really happened at the end, but Sean's potential hallucinations are sort of kept to a minimum and aren't too intrusive. The mental health rep in this is pretty shocking but then, I don't expect a lot from thrillers. There is a fair amount of accuracy in terms of treatment and that side of things but the actual details about the condition are few and far between. Maybe this was meant to add to the ambiguity aspect but it felt lacking to me. I can definitely see it angering some people.

The problems start to kick in around 50% of the way through. Firstly, the story becomes incredibly repetitive. Sean goes to meet someone from Annabelle's past, he finds out a little more about her and then he gets the name of the next person to go see. Rinse and repeat for like 100 pages. Secondly, Sean discovers something very incriminating about a person in Annabelle's life which seems like it would be important to the investigation. An intense fight happens and Sean escapes with evidence of this incriminating thing and then...nothing happens? It isn't mentioned properly until the very end and it's incredibly distracting to have this plot device just hanging there like the elephant in the corner. I initially expected this encounter to be a hallucination of Sean which would explain why it was just forgotten about but this turns out not to be the case and it's just a really baffling writing decision.

This review is spoiler free but the final and biggest problem with this book is the ending. I found it very unbelievable and frankly a bit of a cop-out, and it soured the tone of the whole book for me. Overall, I can see some people really liking this book but I'm just not convinced it brings anything new to the thriller genre. I think the writing has real potential and there are a lot of nice elements at the start of the book. I would want to read more by the author but I can't really recommend this to people, and the problems far outweigh the good points. Sadly this was not a winner.

What a ride. Loved this one. I was initially worried that it was going to play into the "mentally ill people are violent" trope, but it really doesn't! Loved the writing, the pace, and the mystery. I mostly enjoyed learning about Sean's brain and his process of getting help.

*SPOILERS FROM HERE ON*
One thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the ending. Specifically, Sean and Annabelle's relationship at the end. You mean to tell me that Sean spent the whole book trying to avoid his urges, fighting with his morals vs. instinct, just for him to become a killer alongside Annabelle? I would think that he would have killed her and gotten blamed for the whole thing, thus spending more years in jail. Idk, seemed a bit out of character for him, at least to me.

The ending really killed it for me. The lead up was so great and the surprise twist was good but it’s what happened after that really lost me.

Unreliable narrator with a twisty path all the way to end. It's hard to find unpredictable books. This one did it for me.

A gritty, gripping, edge of your seat read with an unreliable narrator and unexpected twists, Hunting Annabelle by Wendy Heard is perfect for fans of You by Caroline Kepnes. What happens when a recently released psychiatric prison patient befriends a girl who then ends up missing. Strap in because the ride is twisted.

The Facts:

1986 Texas.
Sean Suh is in outpatient therapy after being released from a psychiatric prison where he was held for committing murder.
His mother, Dr. Suh a world renowned neurosurgeon manages his care at home. He is being treated for schizophrenia, medicated and sees his doctor three times a week.
Sean Suh is passionate about drawing people and spends his days at a local amusement park drawing people. His doctor encourages Sean to interact with others. He is socially awkward, wears multi-colored rubber bracelets which he snaps impulsively and has shaved the sides of his head which he randomly rubs.
Sean still struggles around sharp objects and envisions killing.
Sean befriends Annabelle. The two begin a weird little friendship and exchange a few kisses.
Annabelle goes missing.
Sean reports that someone has kidnapped his friend.
Sean has lost time.
Sean searches for Annabelle. He interviews friends, teachers and visits her hometown.
Sean is receiving strange messages.
The cops suspect Sean.
Sean is not well.
I love stories with unreliable narrators and Sean Suh was such a fantastic character. He is awkward, has a controlling mother and walks around in a medical induced fog. This is a story where you question EVERYTHING!

There are twists, insight into Sean’s mind and moments of violence. Part of me completely likes Sean, part of me wants to believe him and the other part looks at all the clue and thinks how did he do it? Wendy Heard delivers a complete mind-f@ck of a tale and I love that she kept me spellbound until the end.

The author raises questions about violent crimes involving the mentally ill. Can they be rehabilitated? Is money and influence a game changer? (good or bad) But most of all she delivers a thriller that will keep you guessing until the end.

This review first appeared on Caffeinated Reviewer

This book will make your mind spin and your palms sweat, an edge of your seat ride into crazy town!
Oh how I love to spend time in the mind of a psychopath! Although in the case of Sean you were never quite sure if he was a psychopath or a victim? This really was what set this book a bit apart, the not knowing if you were sympathetic towards the bad guy or the good guy... but good or bad Sean was definitely an odd duck...

Sean has recently been released from a psychiatric hospital, for reasons you’re not completely sure of until later in the book... his mother and he have relocated from San Francisco to Texas, The assumption is that Sean has brought shame on the family.... Shawn’s mother is a controlling, judgemental, condescending, neurosurgeon.... so I’m guessing there weren’t a ton of hugs and kisses and complements in Sean’s past... Shawn is an artist who spends his days drawing at a local amusement park, that is where he meets Annabelle... Shawn is immediately entranced by Annabel, and Annabelle seems to be charmed by quirky Sean... while on their first date somebody kidnaps Annabelle, and Sean is determined to find her... so who took Annabel? And why? And does Sean have something to do with this?Oh the mind f***!

Sean was both off putting an endearing, someone you wanted to give a hug and run away from.... I really had no idea if he was good or bad, or innocent or guilty, until the bitter end... Annabel was complicated, I really never could get a complete handle on her character.... two characters I didn’t necessarily like, but they were so well developed flaws and all! The book completely sucks you in from the beginning, this lonely eccentric character with an artist hand, what is really going on inside him? The pace slows down a bit in the middle with the search for Annabel, although I felt every piece of this puzzle was necessary.... then that ending! Wow that was explosive an unexpected and has you thinking to yourself what the actual f*** did I just read?

A dark and twisty creepy story that will keep you on your toes throughout, absolutely recommend!

*** A huge thank you to Harlequin Mira for my copy of this book ***

As a person who really enjoys mysteries and serial killers, this was right up my alley! It was an easy read with suspense that made me not want to put it down. As sick as it may sound, I really enjoyed the ending. The author uncovered important pieces of information throughout the story which made me keep guessing what was going to happen next? I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a darker story.

“The therapy they gave me didn’t work and neither did the meds because they’re treating the wrong illness. What I have can’t be treated. It’s just what I am. I am a predator. I am a beast.”

I almost ended up passing up this title, since I had not seen many of my fellow bloggers and reviewers cover it, and those that had covered it seemed to have mixed reviews. But I am SO glad that I decided to give this one a go because it was right up my alley.

If you are a fan of Dexter and/or enjoy getting to see inside the dark corners of the mind of the ‘bad guy’ in a story… you HAVE to meet Sean. He has been through a lot of traumatic events (that he ultimately caused), is recovering and adjusting to a ‘normal’ life after institutionalization, loses chunks of time, and is highly medicated— I mean, could we possibly get any more unreliable of a narrator?! And we all know I’m a sucker for those unreliable narrators!

While he has a dark and dangerous past, the way in which the author places us inside of Sean’s mind creates this looming sense of pity. I found myself becoming very attached to Sean as a character, feeling defensive of him, and in a sense, excusing some of the things that he has done–which is an insane thing for an author to be able to do in the realm of swaying reader opinion. Sean is 100% humanized and although there were so many periods of time during the story line where I found myself doubting and questioning him… I always found myself rooting for a positive outcome for him.

The novel is fast-paced, quickly shifting us through the stages of meeting Sean, meeting Annabelle, experiencing (Sean’s interpretation of) Annabelle’s abduction/kidnapping, and going on a search for answers alongside Sean, who has fallen helplessly in love with Annabelle.

And man… that ending!!! What a whirlwind.

So many of the things that I love about this novel cannot be discussed without presenting spoilers– so if you end up picking this one up, I would LOVE to chat about it with you and discuss some of those topics and characters.

Very enjoyable, fast-paced, thrilling, and highly recommended!!

Thank you to Wendy Heard and MIRA Books for providing me with a DRC of this title via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!



Trigger Warnings (May Contain Spoilers):

Spoiler

Graphic Violence, Murder, Assault, Sexual Assault, Rape, Drug Use/Abuse, Mentalism, Institutionalization, Mentioning of Suicide

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