“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
―Lewis Carroll
It was a beautiful summer’s day when I found an amazing bookstore in the centre of Bruges. I soon discovered that they sell every book at half of its original price. Ofcourse I would have never forgiven myself if I didn’t t took the opportunity to quickly assemble a pile of books, so I could add them to my collection. I know, I sound like one of those crazy hoarders :).
Long story short: that’s how I found the book “Central Park” written by Guillaume Musso. The plot seemed interesting: Alice Schafer, a French detective, finds herself chained to Gabriel Keyne, a jazz pianist from Dublin. They wake up in Central Park, but they don’t know each other nor do they know why they are in New York or how they got there.
To be honest: I didn’t really have high hopes for this one. But hey, you never know what you’re missing if you don’t give it a shot. So I turned on my magical reading mode by wrapping myself up in a blanket, activating the fairy lights in my all-year-round Christmas cactus and accompanying myself with a yummy glass of Martini.
Before I’m going to give you my thoughts on this book, I need to explain what it’s about. When Gabriel and Alice wake up in Central Park, they have a lot of questions. How did they get there? Why are they chained? Why does Alice have blood on her blouse and what do the numbers written on their arms mean?
Every road leads back to a killer, named Vaughn, who Alice tracked down three years before. Vaughn was a serial killer who strangled his victims with the panties of the women he had already murdered. The then seven months pregnant Alice, decided to make an end to these killings by surprising Vaughn with a visitation.Unfortunately,this didn’t end well for Alice. Vaughn outsmarted her and killed her unborn baby. Her husband, Paul, also died in a car accident while he was on his way to the hospital.
Devastated by both the loss of her baby and her husband, she develops depression. Only her plan of finding and killing Vaughn when she gets out of the hospital, keeps her alive. But someone already did the job: her father killed Vaughn before she even got the chance.
But now, three years later, it seems that Vaughn is still alive, and he has big plans for Alice. New questions are raised: Why is Gabriel involved in this? Is he who he says he his? Is Vaughn really the brain behind all of this?
The first 120 pages of the book weren’t spectacular. It was lifeless, nothing happened. Also, some little things annoyed me. For example, Gabriel’s last name is Keyne, and for some reason, Alice has to use his last name in literally every sentence she uses, which was quite irritating.
What I did like about this book is that it reads fast, and after the first 120 pages, the plot really turned around and it got a lot more interesting and exciting. Everything went from 0 to 100 and finally the story really drew me in! Also, every chapter is started with a quote, which gives an extra touch.
If you are interested in reading this book, prepare yourself for thousands of plot twists! At the end, I found myself whispering “what the fuck” and “oh my god” a lot of times, because the plot just kept on changing.
I’m going to give you one hint: NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS!!
Would I recommand this book? Yes. Is it the best book I have ever read? No. But if you’re looking for something to read on a relaxed evening, than this would be it. Pour yourself a glass of wine, make yourself comfortable and enjoy!
Caro Diario 