Every 15 Minutes by Lisa Scottoline was a suspense/thriller novel recommended to me over the summer. I was living in New York City at the time, and my favorite activity to do during those hot days was to grab a good book and find a new, exciting place to read and stay cool. This book was on my summer reading list, so I picked it up and read it while I sat in Central Park.
I kid you not, I read it in one sitting.
I have never read a book quite like Every 15 Minutes. Not only did Lisa Scottoline make me want to turn the page, never putting the book down, she did a great job with the structure of the book.
The story is about a psychiatrist who takes on a patient that has severe issues, including an obsession with a girl he is acquaintances with in the city. However, when the girl is found dead, the psychiatrist struggles with doctor/patient confidentiality, unsure whether or not his client was the killer. In his heart, the doctor knows his patient didn’t kill the young girl, but all the evidence says otherwise. I’ll leave the story summary at that, for those of you who want to read it (seriously, I highly encourage you to add this to your reading list). While the story follows the doctor and his struggle with the confidentiality oath, every so often there is a chapter written by an unknown sociopath.
This is where it gets interesting.
The sociopath is unnamed, but they speak to the reader in first person, discussing what they are doing in the story and how they are manipulating the people around them. I have never read a book where the villain is unknown, but they speak to the reader directly. In a sense, these chapters break down a third dimension in the novel, opening doors that would otherwise remain closed without these chapters. Lisa Scottoline raises the stakes in these chapters, with a twisted mystery element that is deliciously exciting.
Overall, I 10/10 would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a unique mystery/suspense story. In addition, the ending will get you—just when you think you have the killer figured out, the sociopath is revealed, and it is epic. I hope you enjoy this novel as much as I did, and I look forward to reading more of Lisa Scottoline’s work.
Image Courtesy of Goodreads
Books and Bites with Brooke 