What She Saw: A Novel

In What She Saw, Lana takes a spontaneous trip to Paris while in the manic period of her bipolar disorder. She tries to stay in the penthouse Suite Imperial of the Hotel Chevalier only to discover it’s being used. So she settles for another room and explores the city. When she comes back to the hotel, her curiosity gets the better of her and she hops in the private elevator headed for the penthouse. When the doors open, she becomes witness to a scene where she perceives a woman to be in danger. She goes back to her room and calls the police, only it’s not the police who come, and she ends up on the run. She finds unusual allies who help her escape, but she still has to find some way back home.

That was the best description I could come up with for this book. There is no crime that takes place, no mystery or thrill involved in any way. The book is completely anticlimactic. Nothing really happens. Lana was one of the most unlikable characters I’ve ever read. She had an excuse for everything. It’s okay that she sleeps with other men and left for a trip to Paris without letting her husband know where she is, because she’s manic. She can be rude to people and go where she wants, because she’s manic. Her personality absolutely rubbed me the wrong way. I began to not care about her predicament. In the end, nothing was black-and-white and turned out to not be a big deal, and she just goes home.

I was surprised at how much I disliked this book. I did not agree with any of the reviews that described it as a thriller filled with suspense. Overall, I found it very disappointing and a waste of time.