LitPick Review
Claire and Stephen seem to have an idyllic affluent married suburban, life but it's all surface. There are cracks in their home life that are becoming more evident. Stephen has had many extramarital affairs, and Claire is being seen by many colleagues and acquaintances as unstable and temperamental. Stephen’s infidelities and Claire's characteristics become more evident when a woman known to the couple has been found murdered. Claire is seen as a primary suspect especially when it turns out that the deceased woman was Stephen’s mistress. As bodies pile up, evidence gathers, and Claire and Stephen become more suspicious towards each other, Claire conducts her own investigation to clear her name. Meanwhile a very devious pair observe the events with their own agendas. Jessica has a dangerous fixation for Stephen, and Cole is stalking the object of his affection: Claire
Opinion:
A Broken Reflection presents an absorbing investigation with multiple viewpoints and leads but ends with a resolution that is disappointing, overdone, and does very little to make this variation unique or stand out from others.
There are some engaging bits, particularly as the characters are introduced and the investigation consumes them. While unhappily marrieds showing a surface level image of perfection is nothing new, the narrative already puts the Readers on edge.
Since the book is told from multiple viewpoints starting with Claire's, we already see the imperfection under the facade but oddly enough, not outright. There are hints like Claire being overly worried about Stephen's opinion about her clothing and housekeeping that make the Reader think that there may be abuse in the household. Then when she sees him with another woman, our sympathies are with her, but she acts in a way that suggests that she has some emotional or psychological problems. So maybe our earlier assessment about abuse might be reversed or entirely wrong. This causes the Reader discomfort and suspicion as we search for the real answers.
We peer into the points of view from various characters, and we experience quite a few obsessions and potential motives. No one in this book comes off particularly well or likable. They all seem to be a cesspool of condescension, cattiness, and antagonism, simmering in a cauldron of hatred and affluence. When the murders occur, it's not necessarily a question of whodunnit and is more who wouldn't do it?
By far the two most intriguing characters are Jessica and Cole. It says something in a cast of unstable dangerous people that these two are the worst. Jessica is conniving and manipulative as she plots to gain Stephen's affections, even if it means removing Claire as an obstacle.
Cole is more immature, having an almost adolescent crush on Claire but is without Jessica's ability to reason and take his emotional goals into various steps. Cole acts on raw emotion making his desires clear without any filters to hide them. Jessica and Cole are not a mentally well duo.
The investigation, especially with the multiple narrators, is the highlight that keeps the Reader's attention, inviting potential scenarios. Unfortunately as interesting as the investigation is, the resolution is every bit as disappointing. Because of spoilers, it won't be revealed, but let's just say that it's a cliche that is often found in soap operas and Psychological Thrillers. It was a possibility in the narration, but the way in which it is revealed relies on stereotypical assumptions that do not do either the fictional characters or any real life Readers with similar issues any favors. There is a final twist that salvages the reveal somewhat, but it undermines what had been revealed so far and could have done without it. The two revelations should have been either one solution or the other, but the two cancelled each other out.
The ending of A Broken Reflection shatters what would have been a clear image of a good suspense novel into pieces.
