First, thanks to Netgalley and the publisher. I was given a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. I’ve got mixed feelings about this book. It took me longer to finish than most books that I really enjoy, but I also hesitate to say that it was slow. It was definitely a slow burn and I had to keep putting it down, but I’m not sure that is necessarily a bad thing.

This was not the thriller that I am used to. I’m not even sure it should properly be called a thriller. There is an event and a mystery to be solved surrounding that event, but it isn’t full of twists and turns and a lot of speculation about whodunit. That said, I felt like there was an honest representation of mental illness (as someone who has been there, I appreciated that). I’m looking forward to reading what Ms. Sliger creates in the future.

Take Me Apart is an engaging novel. The voices alternate between Miranda, a deceased photographer, and Kate, a young woman who is hired by Miranda’s son to archive the photographer’s personal papers. Kate, who comes to this job with baggage and secrets of her own, gets pulled into the lives of Miranda’s family. Sara Sligar’s debut novel is intriguing and well written.

What a great scene to begin with, a plane. but also the dialogue with the passenger, the insurance guy sitting next to our protagonist:
“Yes. And I checked facts, things like that.” The past tense was a dull hurt.
“Didn’t know anyone checked facts these days,” he said. “I get all my news from people I trust—my wife, my friends. I like to have a direct line. Straight from the source.”
Kate pressed her lips together. She already regretted encouraging the conversation, but she didn’t know how to end it politely. There were rules. Be accommodating. Pretend interest. Give them what they want. You started it. He smiled at her and drummed his fingers against the armrest, scattering crumbs.
“Anyway,” he said, “it sounds to me like you made a good choice, switching careers.”
Ha! This is my life, as a journalist on planes. But also, I'm really stingy with my time these days, what narratives I want to let in. Who to trust to tell me stories. This novel has won all my confidence. I'm ready for the ride.

Take Me Apart ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️centers on Kate who has been hired by Theo, the son of a famous deceased photographer, Miranda Brand, who committed suicide 20 years ago. Kate has recently moved to CA to escape her former life, and has moved in with her aunt in uncle in this process. Kate becomes obsessed with learning about Miranda's life leading up to her death.
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This story alternates between Kate's present day and Miranda's past in a very creative way. Sligar covers mental health and womens struggles all while keeping and building tension. Sligar writes beautifully and I almost wish this wasn't labeled as a thriller, for me it was more a slow burn mystery/womens litterature, then a jaw dropping thriller. I'm really impressed that this was a debut novel and look forward to reading Sara Sligar's next novel.
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I would recommend this one to Ruth Ware fans, mystery and poetry lovers, and those who love a good slow burn read.
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Be sure to check this one out on 04/28/20!
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Thank you @fsgbooks for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Take Me Apart is a slow mystery that unravels itself until almost the last page. It is what I would call a Literary Mystery. The story is narrated by Kate who has come to catalog the personal notes of Miranda Brand a famous artist who people question how she died. Alternately you will get to read Miranda’s journal’s, letters and even see receipts that she methodically saved.

Kate takes a job working for Theo Brand, son of Miranda. Kate has had her own “breakdown” and is looking to get back on her feet. Theo is a father of two who appears to want to put this part of his life behind him and get back to his life ASAP. Kate is asked to catalog all of Miranda’s and her husband’s belongings. What she begins to unravel becomes unnerving, and takes over Kate’s entire world.

There is a lot of intrigue with this story, and it will keep you turning the pages. However, it is slow, it is not twisty at all. Think of it as onion, that you are just peeling away the layers at, very slowly. It is satisfying, but not in the way that we have become accustomed to.

It is very much worth reading, just have the right expectations here. This debut novel from Sligar will keep you intrigued. I am definitely interested to see what she will write next. If you like Miracle Creek I think this book will be for you.

Thank you NetGalley and MCD for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This debut novel by a California author is described as a psychological suspense, but while there is some of that element it is more just a great story with a touch of romance. Kate is hired by Theo, the son of a famous photographer (Miranda Brand), to be an archivist and organize all her papers etc. Miranda's death when Theo was eleven was ruled a suicide, but there were some inconsistencies surrounding the death. As Kate goes through the papers and then begins reading a diary she was not supposed to find, she begins to wonder if Miranda was actually murdered and could Theo have done it. This is a wonderful recommendation for fans of the genre. It also explores the themes of mental health, feminism, parenting and the art world. I really enjoyed it and look forward to more novel by this author.

Sara Sliger makes a most impressive debut with Take Me Apart. She is now on my authors to watch list!

Take Me Apart is a well written character driven, psychological suspense novel which tells the story of two complex women in two different time periods with a common bond (mental illness). Kate Atkins is an ex-journalist who is floundering to recover from the loss of her job, and a spiral into deep depression. Miranda Brand was a famous photographer who struggled with mental illness and, at the height of her career, committed suicide.

Miranda's son Theo offers Kate a job, asking her to sift through his mother's mountains of material and create an archive of her works. A narrator tells Kate's story while Miranda's story is told through her journal entries and letters. The reader comes to know each of the women a bit at a time, as layers are pulled away uncovering more and more depth.

As Kate works on her herculean task, she becomes involved with Theo and his two young children. The more she learns about Miranda, she begins to doubt that Miranda committed suicide. Soon Kate is obsessed with finding out the truth, disregarding her own mental health.

Miranda's journal entries and letters create a dark, edgy and suspenseful atmosphere. For the reader, it is like watching the clock of a ticking time-bomb as Miranda gets ever closer to the day she died.

This is an exquisite slow-burn of a read that suddenly ignites. Sligar is skilled with prosaic writing; I reread many lines simply for the sheer joy of it. She also handles the difficult topic of mental illness in two different time periods very well.

I highly recommend you add this novel to your TBR pile. I look forward to reading Ms. Sligar's next book.

My thanks to NetGalley and MCD for allowing me to read a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Sara Sligar’s debut novel, Take Me Apart, gives readers a multiple-layered look into the minds, and lives, of deceased artist Miranda and former investigative reporter-turned-archivist Kate, and is presented as a psychological thriller, although “thriller” may not be used in its conventional sense. The book tells their stories in alternate chapters, most of which are appended with excerpts from Miranda’s personal papers, which Miranda’s son Theo has employed Kate to organize. Sligar proves herself to be a skillful novelist, although this freshman effort does show some differences in the treatments of both women. The portions of the book devoted to Miranda are much more developed, nuanced, and rich than those devoted to Kate, but that does not diminish the enjoyment that most readers will derive from Take Me Apart.

This book was an engaging, well written book with a complex set of characters and a mystery at its core. Told in two voices, this book was an emotionally sound and compelling read. I had a hard time pulling myself away from Sligar’s prose and found it hard to believe that this was a debut novel. Definitely looking forward to more from Sligar, much more!

Miranda Brand might have been in the spotlight as a famous photographer but who was she really? And how did she die? Did her handsome son have anything to do with it? Archivist Kate Aitken has moved to Callinas, a plush California beachside town to take on the work of archiving her subject’s personal belongings. But as Kate digs deeper the story she finds tends to tear her own fragile self apart. Sligar’s debut is a rewarding mystery centered on obsession, womanhood and fragility told through the lens of an increasingly unreliable narrator. Sure to be a smash summer hit.

I could not pull myself away from Sara Sligar’s debut, Take Me Apart. I probably sound like a broken record every time I laud a slow-burn suspense novel like this, but it really was *that* good. Her writing is both expressive and smart, with characters that are so distinctly human that they probably resemble actual people you know. There’s so many things I loved about this book; this review is probably just going to be me listing them out for you here.

This is the first thriller I’ve read in a while where someone isn’t murdered in the first few chapters. So if you’re expecting the story to start with a bang, you may be kept waiting a while. Instead we follow Kate, a former journalist, now an archivist, who takes a job in the California Bay Area in order to get away from her old life and career. There’s a lot that’s left murky surrounding her past, and as she slowly peels back the layers of the family she’s now working for, we get to uncover more of what Kate’s kept hidden.

My primary draw initially was to Miranda Brand, the famous artist whom Kate is now chronicling. She’s a fascinating character, and some of the best parts in the book are her transcripts, diary entries and letters that come at the end of each chapter. Kate becomes increasingly entangled in the enigma that is Miranda Brand, but also by her son, Theo, and his two young children, Jemima and Oscar.

I was struck at how thematic this mystery was. Through the flashbacks to the late 80s and early 90s back to present day, Sligar really delved into some heavy topics, and did so with immense skill. Take Me Apart covers mental health, both the realities of and the stigma surrounding it, public image vs private life, nature vs nurture and more all while keeping and building tension. There’s even a peak into the utter tediousness and ineptitude of the US healthcare system.

This is definitely a post-#MeToo novel. So much of Kate and Miranda’s lives are shaped by the men around them. Sligar uses her ‘strong female characters’ as an indictment of the world they live in. Through Miranda’s work specifically, we’re asked to examine way that female pain is monetized and romanticized as a consumable piece of art. We believe so much has changed, but has it really? I’m not sure, but I find it hard to imagine this story being written in the same way even five years ago.

But beyond all of that, this was just a really addictive book. My pulse started racing when the characters’ did, and I couldn’t turn down my frenetic reading pace until I finished it. I haven’t had my mood shifted in this way for quite a while, and I’m excited to see what Sara Sligar comes out with next.

Wow. “Take me Apart” by Sara Sligar was an awesome psychological thriller by a debut author.
Kate comes to California from New York to a work on the archives of the deceased photographer, Miranda Brand. Kate begins to suspect that Miranda’s death was murder rather than suicide.

The timeline in the novel switched between Miranda’s letters and diaries and present day, Kate.
I really enjoyed this book.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher.

This book didn’t start off well for me. The writing grated on me. It bordered on cheesy and at others, came across as just plain melodramatic.
Kate has lost her job as a journalist in New York, the victim of sexual harassment. She takes a new job in California as an archivist cataloguing the work of Miranda Band, a famous, now dead photographer. It’s not an easy job, as everything has been thrown in one room, including trash. And Theo, Miranda’s son, is the typical cryptic boss - secretive, harsh. He came across as a cliche, really.
The chapters flip back and forth between Kate and Miranda. At least Miranda’s chapters were interesting, especially when she wrote about her photography. Kate comes across as bland, flat, despite her psychological problems and prior history. Things unfold pretty much as you would expect.
In a nutshell, the book just didn’t excite me. I will say, it picked up for the last quarter, but by then, it was too little, too late.
My thanks to netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an advance copy of this book.

This book kept my attention throughout. I couldn't put it down! I relate so much to Kate's character.

The connection between these two women, and their relationships with the Brand men (the parallels, the red herrings, the juxtaposition) was beautiful and engaging and I could not put this book down. It was incredibly thought-provoking, and one of the best MeToo-era books (although it probably isn't classified as one), and just so well done. I particularly liked the creativity and complexity of Miranda's "section" of each chapter, and found the ending to be incredibly well done. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

A slow, layered read about a fictional famed photographer,Miranda Barnes and the archivist hired to sort through her papers for the brooding, handsome son with secrets. Sligar captures the essence of the artwork and her descriptions evoke a thoughtful regard for the fiction catalog. A secret diary provides revelations in the alternate chapters that tell Miranda' s story. Touches on mental illness, domestic violence and professional ethics.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an advanced read in exchange for this review. Miranda, a famed photographer, dies. Decades later, her son hires a former journalist, Kate to sort through her effects and examine her death. Kate has secrets of her own, an this investigation slowly becomes an obsession.

I thought this was a great debut with psychological suspense and an unreliable narrator. I wish a few things had been explored further, but it was still a satisfying read. Sligar is just what this genre needs
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Take Me Apart follows Kate, a journalist who has left her job after a traumatic event, as she embarks on a new job as an archivist. She goes to live with her somewhat overbearing aunt, working on an archival project for the mysterious son of a reclusive local artist who died by suicide years earlier. As Kate starts to hear rumors about the family, and she grows closer to the son, she wonders if something more sinister may have happened.
While the thriller aspect never really landed, this was still a satisfying novel about the price of creating meaningful art, and the treatment of women with mental illness.

"That was how it was sometimes, in the archive. Big discoveries sandwiched between trash. The day-to-day touching the phenomenal."

Kate Aitken, now an ex-journalist (copy editor), has a chance for a clean slate, it’s time to leave New York, which has become contaminated for her. Kate’s life has imploded, and a very important man has taken measures to make sure she does not find work anywhere. When Theo Brand, son of famed photographer Miranda Brand, hires her to archive his late mother’s work it is a chance for her to start fresh- in California. Her aunt is there, which is both a good thing and trying. It won’t be easy, not with a woman whose death is surrounded by mystery and rumors, many that follow Theo like a dark shadow. He confesses his mother was a bit of a pack rat, so one never knows what treasure or trash Kate will uncover. Theo himself isn’t the easiest man to figure out, nor the warmest and it certainly doesn’t help when her own aunt is sure he is worse than the locals say. That maybe he was involved in his mother’s mysterious death, despite being a child when she died.

Her own life in a tailspin of sorts, Kate wonders if taking this job makes her vulnerable to danger. Sifting through the house most people would kill to snoop through, it is hard to separate fact from fiction. Could the many rumors and conspiracies be born from truth, isn’t that often the case? Doesn’t her own life have its own secrets and lies? Hasn’t she learned that a man can hide his dark nature behind his success, wealth and name? Is she attracted to Theo, or are the intense emotions, racing heart she feels around him a warning? After-all, she knows that attraction and panic often set off the same feelings within a person. Could he be as bad as everyone claims? It’s hard to think so seeing him interact with his children, even if her presence seems to upset something in him.

Excavating Miranda Brand’s past is an emotional journey. Despite her awe inspiring talent, behind the artist was a woman who was falling apart, questioning herself, coping with the fragility of her mind. Everything Kate discovers feels like an exposure of a woman who wanted her private life to remain sealed. Art should stand alone, not be influenced by the person behind it. Instead of a contained woman, Kate discovers confessions, and painful admissions. Here was a woman who found mothering challenging and her marriage no better as it was under intense strain. A woman lacking much needed compassion and support, instead had a husband who seemed both exhausted by her needs and competitive over her work. Miranda missed who she was before the life she and her husband Jake created together. What made her decide to leave it, in such a dramatic, horrific fashion? Will Kate uncover more than Theo wants her too?

Their relationship is unbalanced already, Kate arrives with her own future in ruins while Theo appears to be a man who has his life together. There belies a coldness in his desire to wrap up his mother’s life, now that his father is gone and he is free to take charge of the past and all it’s dirty secrets. For Theo, Miranda wasn’t a famous artist who died at the height of her career, she was his mother, at times a distant star physically and mentally. Why does he resent her? Seem to hate her?

Answers may lie in Miranda’s diary, a discovery Kate intends to keep from Theo. It soon becomes obvious he has ulterior motives, could well be misleading and using her- but why? Her own wounds are fresh, the remnants of her own therapy sessions are a lifeboat to cling to as she sorts through Miranda’s past. Kate’s own narrative is as elusive, a thing we glimpse in starts and stops. Everything Miranda was suffering, particularly sensitive information that got out in public, is easy for Kate to relate to- however uncomfortable it feels. There are so many ways a woman is stripped of her armor.

Two women, decades separating them, face metamorphism of the self. This is who I wanted to be, this is who life demanded me to become. For Miranda, her husband is unforgiving, treating her after her unraveling as something he is chained too. Kate’s fall from grace is a different sort of humiliation, an utter failure of the self. There are abuses both women suffer at the hands of men with the upper hand. For women, it is all about how people interpret you, be it your behavior, decisions, weaknesses, mental state or refusal to give in when it’s demanded of you.

Death is silence, but Miranda could still have the last word. Does that frighten Theo? What if the truth challenges the story men, like he and his father, have controlled? What about Kate and her own voice, her own past? Is it wise to get tangled in desire for Theo? What if… what if Miranda was murdered?

What kept me reading was Miranda’s story and how she was mistreated, demeaned and misinterpreted- even after her death. Though the person hardest on her, as is often the case with women, was herself. What it nails is how narrative can alter lives, for better or worse. Sometimes the truth must lie in wait, but it will have it’s pound of flesh. Sometimes it pushes us to be more too. Kate was harder for me to bond with, but Miranda- I think Miranda echoes what many women go through and feel too ashamed to give voice. Theo was important, but he wasn’t the heart of the story for me anymore than the attraction between he and Kate. I was in it for Miranda. You could feel the pain of feeling judged, especially for things you cannot help. How easy it is to fall from grace for showing yourself as a fragile human being and why people try and hide when they feel themselves slipping. The breaking is so much worse when the one who is meant to be your anchor fails you. A strong character in Miranda if the others lacked substance. She was worth reading!

Publication Date: April 28. 2020

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

What an intense debut thriller! It kept me guessing until the end. I enjoyed the flow of the story and that made it bingeworthy.