I was hooked my the whole premise of this: and archivist who battles demons of her own is hired to go through the writings of a famous artist who died under mysterious circumstances. The way that book was broken into excerpts from the artist’s diaries as well as the POV of the archivist worked well and created a well-balanced amount of tension. Though there were definitely elements of the latter, I would classify this more as a domestic drama than psychological thriller.

Take Me Apart by Sara Silgar twisty debut psychological thriller. I'm definitely going to look forward to reading more from this author.

Kate Aitken is hired to create an archive of famed photographer Miranda Brand's work by her son. What unfolds from there is a deep dive into long-buried secrets and lies. It's riveting and recommended!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Much heavier than a regular mystery, abuse, mental illness and feminist issues are a part of it. Sometimes I feel that an author has tried to get too much into a book, but in this case, its fits. Well-developed characters and an interesting plot are also factors in making it a worth-while book to read.

I really enjoyed this book. I found it to be entertaining, well-written, and it kept me engaged as a reader. The duel story lines and voices was captivating and set the tone for the book. I genuinely enjoyed it.

Miranda Brand was notorious for not only her creepy art but for her mysterious death. It has been more than twenty-five years since her death and her son, Theo, has hired an archivist to go through her papers and artwork, with the hopes of selling the home where she lived and died. Kate Aitken is excited about her new job. She has had a tough go of it recently and is hoping that the change of scenery will help her get past the mess of her last job. It isn't long before Kate starts to get too close to Miranda's son, Theo. He is handsome and kind and an amazing father to his children. But the longer Kate works with Miranda's papers and personal diaries, the more Kate gets wrapped up in the past and believes that there was something more sinister about Miranda's death than the police found. Will Kate be able to get to the truth without jeopardizing her own mental health?

Take Me Apart is a novel of two women spiraling out of control, one is trapped in an abusive relationship and the other is trapped by her obsession. The chapters alternate between Kate and Miranda's diary. It was clear from very early on in Miranda's diary that she was not well and that her life was coming apart from the seams. At first, I thought it was just post-partum depression, but I think it was more. And it was clear that Kate was getting too wrapped up in Miranda's story. She was clearly obsessed and spiraling out of control to make things fit the version of the story that she thought she found. I loved her relationship with Theo's kids. It seemed like the only good thing for both her and Theo. The end was a bit anticlimatic and even a little bit sad. - CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS.

Bottom Line - Take Me Apart is the story of two struggling women trying to make it through the messiness of life.

Details:
Take Me Apart by Sara Sligar
Pages: 368
Publisher:MCD
Publication Date: 4/28/2020
Buy it Here!
Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for a review.

Take Me Apart is about Kate going through the records of a famous artist, Miranda Brand, and begins to unravel the hidden true story of her life. Kate is running to the west coast to escape the trauma of her previous job, she looks to her new job as an archivist as a way to start anew and reclaim her life.

I wouldn't consider this a thriller, it was more literary fiction with an exploration of women in art and what their art is and means. I feel like Miranda's story carried this book and I found myself far more interested in her chapters than Kates. The mystery element was anti-climatic, so many red herrings that would have been exciting ends, but the end was just a fizzle.

In both timelines mental illness is used as a plot device and character traits. These women who are allowed to be complex, are boiled down to their mental illness and not just by the people in their lives, but by the author too. The plot twists and unreliableness of the narrators were based on the mental illness... it just seemed like a cop-out to their characters which were built up to be so much more. It's a weird feeling for me to have since clearly these women were given complex stories and lives that, in the end, meant nothing to the story.

A big part of me hopes that in Sligar's future novels, the complexity of the women will be more of a focus than any conditions they may have, and that she won't rely on mental illness to create tension.

For a debut novel this work holds it's own pretty well. The plot is unique, and that's refreshing these days. It tends to meander at times but there's enough mystery there, without calling it a thriller.

“I was born to be miserable. I have always been an arrow aimed for some darker life. I flew along that path straight and true and now that I’ve landed I might as well learn to love the place I’ve stayed. It’s fuel for art, is all it is. Is all.”

Diving into the mind of Miranda Brand was a stunning experience I won’t soon forget. As a reader, she feels hard to love and disconnected. Her feelings toward her child, painful to read and difficult to wrap your brain around. But it’s what I found most mesmerizing. Not all women are meant to become mothers. When can we normalize that?

While this is a psychological mystery, do not go into it expecting a wild ride thriller. Stay for the truth at the ending, but soak up the art and feminism along the way.

I am mind blown that this is a debut novel. Sara Sligar writes with eloquence, ease and a darkness you want to fall into.

This book is what I would call “romantic suspense,” it’s an absolutely gripping, can’t-put-down, atmospheric mystery with the perfect amount of romance and personal conflict. I was hooked from the beginning until the very last page when I was absolutely grinning ear-to-ear with what I thought was the perfect resolution.

Kate is fleeing a bad end to her journalism career in New York when she accepts a job archiving the personal collection of famed artist Miranda Brand in California. Brand was not only known for her work, but her struggles in life, which culminated in her suicide at age 38. But there’s always been questions and rumors surrounding her death - and her son Theo’s reclusive behavior adds fuel to the fire. As Kate works through Miranda’s personal collection, she finds herself not only questioning the official version of Miranda’s death, but intrigued by Theo.

This book had a slow burn quality, where you see things swirling and happening and watch as it also unfolds and events in the present begin to mimic those in the past. I don’t want to give too much away, but in a way Miranda and Kate’s lives become intertwined and it slowly creeps up on you before hitting you in the face. I loved that - I just had to figure out what was going on and how it was going to all end.

The characters are also really well done, with Kate and Theo - the main characters - really being question marks throughout the story until the big reveal. I loved seeing the layers peel back as the story progressed and more of their pasts (they’re both dealing with some very intense traumas) were revealed, which helped you understand things better.

And the addition of Theo’s two children to the story was a delight. They were a nice comedic break in what could be a dark story.

I would 100 percent read more from this author and look forward to doing so. Anyone who likes stories that combine mystery, romance, thrills, chills, and a little bit of humor will love this book.

Highly recommended.

I hate it when a book is marketed as a 'psychological thriller' but to me reads more like a romance with slight suspense. I probably would have enjoyed the book more if I hadn't been expecting something totally different. The writing is good - especially for a debut author - but the pacing seemed very slow to me.

It's an interesting look at a sensitive subject. Just not what I was expecting.

I must say that this book didn't excite me. The characters seemed rather two-dimensional during the first half of the book. It did pick up by the last 100 pages, but it was a little late for me. The writing (or language) used was well done, I just didn't find the story engaging. I put it on my reread list because I'm hoping I just wasn't in a space for this book at the moment and will find it more engaging in the future. It has all of the aspects of a mystery that I love, so hopefully in the future!

I’m finding this a difficult review to write, both because I loved it this book so much and also because I don’t want to give anything away. If you enjoy strong but flawed women, compelling mysteries, clever feminist snark, and reconstructing a life and death from old photos, documents and diaries then this could be the story for you. I should to give a warning for mental illness, suicide, self-harm, mental and physical abuse, gas lighting, sexual harassment, post-partum depression and threatening harm to a baby, and I’m sure there are more that I am missing. This isn’t an easy story, and it isn’t a particularly happy story but I found it incredibly fascinating and thought-provoking.

The entire book focuses on the lives of two women, Miranda the artist and Kate the archivist who is hired to organize Miranda’s documents after her death. While officially Miranda’s death is ruled a suicide Kate finds evidence that suggests she may have been murdered. This leads Kate down a deep, dark rabbit hole trying to discover the truth about Miranda and her death. When Kate uncovers Miranda’s diary her life story becomes tragically clear and Kate’s own life begins to catastrophically break down.

This was a really captivating mystery that had me just as desperate for more of Miranda’s diary as Kate. I wouldn’t call this a thriller but it is more of a slow burn story as all of the pieces come together into a vivid and unhappy picture. I wasn’t sure where the mystery of Miranda’s death was going to go and who might be responsible. There were several possibilities and all seemed equally likely. I was satisfied with the resolution and a bit surprised by the final chapter. For a mostly dark and sad story it was an unexpected joy to have a little ray of light in the end.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

A book that drew me right in.The fact that this is the authors debut novel and the storyline is mesmerizing will have me following her recommending this book.&looking forward to her next #netgalley#fsg

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux/MCD on April 28, 2020

Take Me Apart is the story of two mentally ill women. Had Sara Sligar generated sympathy or created empathy for their plights, her concept might have been developed into a good book. Instead, Sligar offers too little reason to care about either woman while placing them in a contrived plot that never builds suspense.

Kate is an out-of-work copy editor who either quit or was forced out of her job after she reported sexual harassment (the truth of her departure from employment is concealed until the final third of the novel). Her aunt in Northern California recommends her services to Theo Brand, who wants an archivist to organize his mother’s papers.

Miranda Brand was a celebrated photographer whose mental health issues contributed to her fame. “Art is supposed to make you afraid,” she thinks, an emotion she hopes to evoke with photographs of blood-covered women. The circumstances of her death, when Theo was only eleven, triggered rumors that still persist in the community where Miranda lived.

Miranda was married to a painter named Jake whose art earned less money than Miranda’s. Both artists were represented by the same agent, who now hopes to cash in on photographs that Kate might find while sorting through Miranda’s stuff, as well as the archive of documents that Kate compiles.

We learn about Miranda at the end of each chapter. The chapters begin by recounting Kate’s archival work and her interaction with Theo and his two children. Chapters end with excerpts from the material Kate is organizing: Miranda’s diary entries, medical records, media clippings, and cryptic notes scribbled on the backs of photographs.

Kate begins to wonder whether Miranda really killed herself. It’s really none of her business, but to satisfy her curiosity, she snoops through Theo’s house and interviews Miranda’s agent and a law enforcement officer who investigated the death. Naturally, she begins to suspect that young Theo committed the crime, but only harbors that suspicion once she begins sleeping with him. The decision to sleep with Theo follows on the heels of a good bit of gush that would have been better suited to a cheesy romance novel.

Kate is emotionally fragile and off her OCD meds. She probably deserves the reader’s empathy, but Sligar didn’t make me care about her problems, many of which exist solely to give the book a plot. Kate makes every wrong decision it would be possible to make, has only herself to blame, and eventually comes to the realization (spoiler alert) that she should have stayed on her meds. Well, no kidding. I’m not sure what insight a reader is supposed to take from that.

Nor did I care about Miranda’s mental health issues, which are apparently meant to parallel Kate’s, but their disorders are quite different. Mirands suffered from a sort of postpartum depression that made her fantasize about killing Theo after his birth.

Both women are portrayed as having been victimized by men. It isn’t anyone’s fault but Kate’s that she stopped taking her meds. I would sympathize with her as a sexual harassment victim if that were the novel’s focus, but the focus is on Kate’s manic behavior, which can’t reasonably be attributed to sexual harassment that she handled quite capably and that ended as a result of her complaints. Jake sometimes had sex with Miranda when she wasn’t in the mood, but Miranda was always in a depressed mood, and it’s not clear that she ever communicated her lack of desire for sex to her husband. Her underlying problem, like Kate’s, is her mental illness, not abuse by a man.

Not that the men are ideal characters. Jake may have been insenstive to his wife, but he was married to a basket case. He mishandles a delicate situation involving his son which might account for why Theo is screwed up. This is an awfully dysfunctional and self-pitying cast of characters. The question is whether Sligar did anything with them that might be worthy of a reader’s time.

The only reason to keep reading about these self-absorbed misfits is the mystery surrounding Miranda’s death. Sligar dutifully sets up a few suspects, including Jake, Theo, the agent, and a character named Kid with whom Miranda had something more than a friendship. Miranda’s theories and suspicions about the death seem to be rooted in her mania rather than facts an objective observer might find persuasive. The idea of a nutcase accidentally unraveling a murder might make a good story, but this isn’t it. The eventual reveal about Miranda’s death is underwhelming. A late, out-of-nowhere effort to add a plot twist involving a disappearing diary induced a shrug of indifference.

Sligar’s prose style is polished. As a debut novel, Take Me Apart shows glimpses of promise. It just doesn’t deliver a plot or characters that made me care about the outcome. Fans of predictable and cheesy romance might appreciate the final chapter, but that chapter and the novel as a whole were too unconvincing to hold any appeal for me.

This is a thrilling story told with a dual timeline from the POV of Kate, an archivist hired for the summer and her subject, Miranda, a successful artist who suffered a mysterious death. Miranda's son Theo hired Kate to work in his home going through his parents' things and getting it ready for auction. Through her work, Kate becomes engrossed in the reasons behind Miranda's death and uses the clues that she finds in the home, including Miranda's own words. This sets up a mystery that was never fully elucidated at the time of her death. It is rich in the family dynamics, mental health issues, physical and mental abuse, what we might do for the ones we love and ourselves, and relationships.
This is an intriguing thriller that checks a lot of boxes.
Highly recommended read.
Thank you for the early copy.
#Netgalley #TakeMeApart #FarrarStrausandGiroux

Twisty and addicting. Make sure you have plenty of time for this winner of a book because it's unputdownable. But who doesn't have the extra time right now? Seriously though this book is an absolute must read so it needs a top spot on your TBR stack. Happy reading!

3-4 stars. This was not at all what I expected, not even sure I would consider it a real mystery, but with that said I did find it very well written, intriguing, and very much an important part of today’s current themes. It really is one of those that I would consider beautifully written, but very slow burning and multilayered. The characters development was amazing and the plot really fits with many of the things you would see in today’s headlines and other areas. It may have some triggers, so if you are one that is easily triggered, not into feminist type stories, or looking for a thriller/mystery with tons of twists & turns, thrills, chills, and shocks it’s not likely for you, but if you do enjoy beautifully written, slow paced, feminist stories, which definitely use current events then you need to grab a copy today! Overall, I think if you are into multilayer books, which use important social, political, and other current themes, then you will definitely enjoy this book! Make sure to look through some of the trigger warnings first!
Will make sure to buzz it up on all the different platforms and use my low Amazon reviewer number on release date!

What's more enthralling than the intersection of art and suspense? Sara Sligar's debut is a tantalizing brew of obsession, simmering secrets and gorgeously rendered characterizations. A high recommended novel of literary suspense which you'll be sorely tempted to read in one sitting.

At the height of her popularity, famed feminist photographer Miranda Brand dies of an apparent suicide shocking both Callinas, California and the art world. Miranda’s home remains largely untouched until nearly twenty-five years later when her son, Theo hires former journalist Kate Aitken to archive the papers, photographs, and miscellany left there.

As Kate delves into the assortment of documents, a vibrant picture of Miranda as an artist and woman emerges, and Kate refuses to believe she killed herself. Her records reveal secret jealousies and deeply buried secrets that could be the motive for murder. Kate’s investigation unsettles the residents, and as she becomes more obsessed with Miranda, her fragile tether to sanity frays, and is only weakened further with an increasing attraction to Miranda’s attractive and brooding son.

I absolutely loved 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘦 𝘈𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 by Sara Sligar. The novel has everything I love: beautiful writing, provocative themes, fascinating characters, and a scintillating mystery. Kate’s story (written in third person) is peppered with excerpts from the archive she is creating, and this exchange between past and present forms an interesting picture of what Miranda was experiencing versus what people perceived. Sligar also includes descriptions of Miranda’s photography, so clearly rendered I almost expected to be able to find reproductions. The medium of photography as a surface representation, a “lie” as husband Jake accuses, further illuminates the constant play between the façade and the reality. Finally, the raw, emotional descriptions of mental illness resonated with me.

I highly recommend this novel; however, I think 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘦 𝘈𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 is less of a thriller than the marketing copy might suggest. Instead, I would categorize it as psychological suspense or as a literary thriller, but it is firmly character-driven and in my view, the mystery of Miranda’s death is less central than the questions her death raises for different characters.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Farrar, Straus & Giroux/MCD, and Sara Sligar for the opportunity to read and review her debut novel - I loved it and am anxious to see what will be next from this writer! 5 stars!

Kate lost her job in NYC as a result of sexual harassment. This loss caused her to lose more than her job - she lost her self-confidence, her career, her home as she was forced to take a job across the country and to live with an aunt and uncle while trying to regain her footing. The job she takes is to archive the personal collection of Miranda Brand, an infamous artist who died under mysterious circumstances. As Kate starts to work, she quickly becomes obsessed with the artist and her family and is driven to find out exactly how Miranda died.

Told in the form of Miranda's writings and collections as well as Kate's life in the present, this is a great character-driven novel, delving into the personal feelings of everyone involved. It also explores many current topics - mental illness, sexual harassment, abuse, feminism, as well as personal feelings of inadequacy and the result of keeping secrets.

I lost myself in both these women's worlds and loved the creativity of the way the story was told. Bravo to all involved!