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The Perfect Girlfriend review: Karen Hamilton delivers a twisty thriller

By Alexandria Ingham

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 22: Rows of books relating to the city are seen in the London Collection section of the Barbican library following it's re-opening, at Barbican Centre on July 22, 2020 in London, England. After months of closure due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the library opened it's doors to the public on July 20, with a range of safety measures in place, including a maximum 30-minute visit time, one-way systems, mandatory hand cleansing and the removal of seating. All returned items are quarantined for 72 hours to ensure the items are virus-free. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 22: Rows of books relating to the city are seen in the London Collection section of the Barbican library following it's re-opening, at Barbican Centre on July 22, 2020 in London, England. After months of closure due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the library opened it's doors to the public on July 20, with a range of safety measures in place, including a maximum 30-minute visit time, one-way systems, mandatory hand cleansing and the removal of seating. All returned items are quarantined for 72 hours to ensure the items are virus-free. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) /
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What happens when love goes too far in The Perfect Girlfriend?

The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton came out in 2019. Since then. Hamilton has released The Last Wife, published during 2020. It can be difficult to trust a new author, but The Perfect Girlfriend is excellent for those who like twisty thrillers that don’t follow the good protagonist.

This novel is told from the side of the stalker. Juliette loves Nate, and she is willing to do whatever it takes to get him back. That includes getting a job with the same airline that he works with, which is where the novel initially picks up.

It does have a bit of a slow start as you get to know the characters. However, by about the 25% mark, it becomes one of those books you can’t put down. All you’ll want to know is whether Juliette gets her man or not. Surely the villain can’t win, right?

A story told from the antagonist’s side

Really, Juliette is the antagonist. She’s the one that you shouldn’t route for, that you should be extremely worried about.

She is willing to do what it takes to prove she’s perfect for Nate, whether it means keeping copies of her ex-boyfriend’s keys so she can visit while he’s away or knowing his social media passwords to see what he’s up to. The question is just how far she will eventually go to get what she wants.

Everything is told from her point of view, which is something that immediately drew me into the story. We usually see thrillers from the victim’s point of view, so seeing it from the stalker’s was interesting. It was a chance to see inside their minds.

Does Juliette even think what she’s doing is wrong? Does she know where to draw a line? Why is she so obsessed with one man?

A chance to feel for the antagonist

Juliette isn’t acting out for the sake of being evil. This is a deep character with a lot of flaws and a lot of baggage. Over the course of The Perfect Girlfriend, we learn more about her past and what has made her into the woman she is.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that she’s even the villain in all this. You see, it’s not really villain vs. hero. Every single character has their flaws, although we only ever hear of them from Juliette’s point of view. Nate has his history, his sister Bella was a high school bully, and one of the other characters is a cheater.

As she tells her story, you get to know Juliette more, and there are times that you will feel sorry for her. You’ll wish that life in the past could have been different, and there may even be parts of the story that you connect to, especially when it comes to the life of a teenage girl.

While the story isn’t complicated, it is thrilling. Plans go wrong. People don’t act the way Juliette expected to. Plans are forced to change at a moment’s notice. And through it all, Juliette shows just how much she’s planned well in advance.

There are some elements of the story that remind me a little of The Guest List, especially when it comes to boarding school personalities. However, the ending to the thriller is refreshingly different.

If you love thrillers that you can’t put down that aren’t told from the standard points of view, The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton is a must.

Next. Dark Tides by Philippa Gregory review. dark

The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton is available with two-day free shipping with Amazon Prime.

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