Book Review – Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone

Jane Doe: A Novel
Okay… this psych-thriller was just FABULOUS!!!! Fans of Tarryn FIsher’s female villains that you just can’t help but root for? THIS IS FOR YOU!!!!

Maryse: I’m reading AND LOVING “Jane Doe”!!! If you want a plotting, sharp-as-a-tack sociopathic heroine in the vein of one of Tarryn Fisher’s magnificent villains (or are they vigilantes? )… read this!!!

HOLY MOLY I’m in love with the writing (and the heroine’s voice). I’ve been craving more Tarryn Fisher and this one is hitting the spot BIG TIME! P.S. It’s super-bargain priced and on KU!!

Nay: Just wanted to mention that for those of us who have KU, Jane Doe (and Evelyn, After) from Maryse’s list both have free audiobook listening with KU. I’m going to add them to my list!

Andrea: LOVED this book! Listened to it on Audible last month.

Maryse: right up my creepy alley!!! !!!

Told strictly from her POV, what she sees, what she’s thinking (vs. what she speaks) and OMG I was hooked from the very start. And I love that we know, pretty close to right away that she’s a sociopath bent on revenge. How it’s all going to play out, though, even she’s not quite sure yet (which kept ME on my toes the entire way through).

She’s intelligent, cunning, and unapologetic, I loved every single moment in her head.

I don’t spend time worrying what my partners think of me. My lack of shame simplifies things.

She’s calm and calculating and she’s mad as hell. Trying to connect with people is a struggle for her (almost impossible even) as she works her way through life, “acting” out social norms so she can blend in.

It’s not that I don’t have feelings. I have some emotions. I do. It’s just that I can usually choose when to feel them. More important, I choose when not to.

I don’t think I was born this way. I suspect I used to feel things too deeply until my brain rewired itself to protect me.

Can she love? In her own way maybe, but her affection for others is rare, and she shows it the only way she knows how.

So what’s it about?

“Jane” has just started a new, menial job in an office. Unassuming, and shy, she reluctantly befriends a higher up in her office.

He’s a man who likes to think he’s in charge. He’s afraid of women who come on strong. How could you ever control a girl that bold? So I only watch through my lashes and keep my face turned toward my work.

He flirts, acts as a mentor, encourages her (albeit with a few backhanded compliments). He’s charming with a side of condescending pushiness… and she’s an obvious pushover. So he thinks.

I know which emotional buttons to push. I know what he likes in a woman’s personality. And manipulation is my specialty.

She already has his number, and she’s dialed into a new life lesson for him.

This relationship will be tedious and nearly unbearable, but the end will justify the means.

And I’ll let you go from there.

Her reasoning, acute observations of social norms and interactions (eye-opening for me, and yet so right and so obvious), her methods, how she connects… as “disconnected” as she is. One of my favorite reads from the mind of someone with a certain… social disorder, and I could barely put it down!

After all, everyone knows that women are responsible for how men behave. If we’re not careful, they might decide to take what they want. They can’t help it. But somehow I’m the one with the psychological impairment.

Thrilling, a bit shocking (okay… a lot shocking at times), but this one is so well written, and doesn’t deviate from start to finish. And for some reason, despite her unemotional side, I “got” her. I liked her.

I see his charm on full display.

I see what someone could love about him if they didn’t look too closely. Sometimes I wish I didn’t always look so closely. I wish I could lose myself like other people do. But there’s no point in wishing for something that can never be. It’s a waste of energy.

And she’s the type that’s got your back, IF she selects you as one of “hers”.

I just loved how she could see the good in some, and how it kept bringing out the good in her, despite her unabashed callous side. That, she reserved for those that deserved it. A villain, or a vigilante? You decide.

Maybe I should get a cat.

The thought invades my head fully formed and utterly obvious. A cat. Another little sociopath to curl up beside me at night and keep me warm.

4.5 STARS!!!! <— P.S. I was smiling BIG time by the end of this one. Also… there’s a little side love story going on too. Is that why I was smiling? Or was it the grand reveal? My lips are sealed.

Tagged as: 4.5 stars, antiheroes, psych-thriller, psychological thriller, revenge, vigilantes