The Sinner: A Dark College Romance

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Rejected wholeheartedly by her husband immediately after the attack, it seems an open-and-shut case, which may only be mitigated by a plea of insanity. The human brain will go to no ends to protect itself, even if that includes creating an entirely made up version of reality.

This is my second venture into Shantel Tessier's world, and OMG, I wasn’t expecting to love "The Sinner" this much. Sin is dangerous, he is beyond possesive of Elli but he breaks her heart after he claims her, kills for her and protects her too. Despite the challenges presented by the trigger warnings, Tessier's storytelling prowess shines through.Bender's ill sister, Magdalena, should have died many times in her childhood, somehow managing to cling to life, she is the centre of her mother's world, swamping everything and everyone with her requirements, draining the families financial as well as emotional resources, isolating them. From that moment forward we, the reader, watch as her mind untangles and disintegrates before our very eyes and the most horrifying tales of abuse are laid out before you for inspection. This book was amazing but certainly not for the faint hearted, if you are wanting a happily ever after story you’ve got to wade through a lot of disparity to get there but the payoff is worth it.

The Sinner" is a captivating journey into the abyss, a testament to Tessier's ability to craft a narrative that leaves a lasting impression. Enter Ellington Asher, a soul that's been through enough tragedies to make a Shakespearean play seem like a rom-com. I cannot be certain that this is due to the translation, but I imagine, that due to the nature of language, the haunting atmosphere and psychological thrills were lost somewhere along the way. Needless to say, this review may contain some mild-moderate SPOILERS (although I’ll avoid revealing whodunnit).

Elli and Sin cross so many boundaries, it could make a reader cringe, and in a normal world, for every action their should be a consequence, but this dark world doesn’t have normal consequences and like I said above you either like this dark world or you don’t. Tessier boldly delves into the darker side of love, portraying a protagonist who embraces the unholy and craves the kind of love that leaves bruises and scars.

The book begins very blandly with a young woman who is quite boring, who is bored with life, her husband - although he is a good husband she says - her entire world has become unbearable and thus she has decided to commit suicide. When Cora Bender stabs a man to death in front of family, friends, and a crowded park, nobody realises that she was originally planning to commit suicide.Her plan is simple, go to the beach with her husband and two year old son, swim out deep, and drown. Although this novel is the third novel in Gerritsen’s “Rizzoli and Isles” series, it can probably be read as a stand-alone story. Remembering that we were viewing Bender's family from her perspective, and the role that Magdalena's entire existence had such a profound affect on Bender - made it a particularly thought-provoking aspect. All in all, I read the book as if going through a fog: not understanding how I got there and what I did there.