Despite owning every single book Louise Jensen has ever released, I have yet to actually read any of them so far. Thankfully this pattern has been broken by The Date. Jensen has exactly the kind of writing style I look for in a thriller-straightforward, engaging and dynamic enough to keep you turning the pages. From the very first page I knew I hadn't made a mistake in picking this. Sadly it is the 'thriller twist' aspect which is a let down.
In addition to the great writing style, the characters in this book were also extremely well-written. Our protagonist is likeable and has a fair bit of depth to her, and indeed all the side characters are similarly fleshed-out. Her friends maybe suffer a little bit in terms of depth and Alison does make some frustratingly-bad decisions but these are somewhat justified by her backstory and the plot. Overall, none of them felt like flimsy stand-ins or excuses to have more suspects which is very good.
As mentioned, my one major flaw with this book is I found it very easy to predict. I must admit that reading about a protagonist with prosopagnosia (face-blindness) was a nice gimmick for a thriller. I've read hundreds that have a main character with amnesia but this added a new layer to the whole 'can't recognise your attacker' aspect. As a psychology student, it was also portrayed fairly accurately as well. But even with this plot device, I still guessed the ending and I wasn't really surprised about anything along the way. There was maybe one twist I didn't guess but only because I had forgotten the character involved was in the story.
Overall, I would still recommend The Date as a nice, enjoyable thriller. It offers enough new things to be worth the read and I will definitely be seeking out more from the author. Hopefully next time I will be surprised.
Overall Rating:
.5
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