Review of Traps by MacKenzie Bezos

Traps by MacKenzie Bezos
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was chosen by my local bookclub for the next read. I was dubious that I would like it, but I did. There was a certain amount of intrigue as to how the four characters would interconnect and that drew me in.

I found the point of view a little distracting. It was omniscient, meaning that the story was narrated in a way that we, the readers, were observing it as it unfolded. There were a couple of instances where it even uses 'we' (such as 'we can see from how often she ...'), making this POV apparent. It keeps the reader at a distance from both the characters and the story in some ways, but at the same time it was like watching it in real time: we didn't know what was coming at all, there was no alluding to what would come, and we also didn't know the backstory of each of the characters so this unfolded before us, keeping the reader captivated and engaged.

We are introduced to the four characters, Jessica, Dana, Lynn, and Vivian, individually at the beginning of the book, and then we start to slowly see how they cross paths, or are connected to each other. Some of them are a surprise. In some ways we only get a snippet of their lives, just a moment as they intersect, never knowing the full outcome to their situations or the history behind them.

For me that was probably the only thing I felt lacked here. It felt too brief, and in some ways had little point, short of being a 'fly on the wall' with each one and observing the situation or dilemma they were facing at that time. Yet strangely I felt okay with this when it came to an end. I had engaged with each emotional moment and experienced it along with them, so that in itself provided a certain satisfaction.

This was a very different read for me, and a different style of writing. One that I felt had room for development and improvement.

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