Fractured MP3 CD – Unabridged, October 4, 2016

I liked this one, but had some issues that prevented me from enjoying it so much more. It took me a few chapters (or more) to get the characters and time period straight. It was confusing how it was alternating from present to past and I had to keep "rereading" to sort it all out. I think I had the same issue with her other novel so maybe it is just me.The plot was intriguing and I wanted to know more about why Julie was being stalked by a fan of her bestselling novel, The Murder Game. Julie and her family re-locate to a quiet neighborhood, but her problems don't subside they only increase.I especially enjoyed the nuance of the crazy snoopy neighbors and the prying eyes of the home owner association president! The ending was a disappointment because it was too predictable and not suspenseful to me (after much build-up).An overall easy read with a mystery to solve!

Fractured is a novel by Catherine McKenzie. It is definitely worth reading. It is one of those novels that you can hardly put down and then you get back to it as soon as you can. It definitely is realistic and keeps your interest. As you read, it is easy to put people you know or are acquainted with in the place of the characters.Julie Apple Prentice is the writer of a best seller and who is the victim of a stalker. Her husband, Daniel, is willing to make a career move and move from Seattle to Ohio to get away from her stalker. So Julie, Daniel, and their six-year-old twins make the move to Cincinnati. The children are in school and Daniel at work while Julie makes an attempt to write her second novel. Unfortunately, she has problems getting started so starts running of a morning to see if that will help. She starts running with her next door neighbor, John. Julie has a hard time making friends so it was unusual that they became good friends. Other than John, the only friend she makes in the neighborhood is Susan. Everyone else seems to form a dislike to Julie and her family, especially the head of the neighborhood committee, Cindy Sutton. No matter what Julie does, it seems she just makes matters worse.John Dunbar has been let go by his company and sets out to develop an IT company at home. He helps Julie make her computer safer from hacks when he gets into her files easily. He then helps her set up her webpage. Meanwhile his wife Hanna and their son Chris take a dislike to Julie. He has to walk a thin like between trying to calm his wife down and to seem to be on Julie’s side.An impossible situation becomes even more so when something happens that could break up the entire neighborhood.

I bought this book after seeing multiple reviews exclaiming this is a book you can't put down. Unfortunately to the contrary, this book took me two months to read as I mostly only picked it up when I was on public transportation and had nothing else to do. The first 2/3rds of the book dragged, and then I finally got into the last 1/3rd of the book after the "past" storyline got closer to the big reveal and I knew that some answers/anything interesting might be coming. The concept of the storyline is interesting and seemed to have a lot of potential, but the characters were flat and unlikeable, and the writing style was very two dimensional. It seemed that there were so many more possibilities in the story that could have been explored, especially in the side characters. We never got to see any of the true motivations behind the actions of Heather or Ashley and Chris, and Daniel and Hanna also felt like characters with untapped potential. Julie's "best friend" characters also seemed like they were added in just so that we could hear more of what Julie was thinking from a different angle (i.e., in conversation with someone as compared to her usual self reflection). I really wanted to like this book but was unfortunately underwhelmed.

All the reviews on my Kindle prior to the start of the novel say anything I could think to say, they are all beautifully written and 'hit the nail on the head'. I became thoroughly engrossed in this novel - I am into suspenseful stories, and this delivered 100%. I especially enjoy a novel that gives you 'now' information as well as reverting to a previous time - it adds to the suspense as well as gives perspective. Often I find the best way to deliver my thoughts to readers is by quoting highlights I made along the way - they give a 'feel' to how the writer thinks, I love when a phrase/passage literally makes me stop, close my eyes, and think about what the author has said:"We all wear masks. The challenge is keeping them in place.""Life is made up of turning points. Forks in the road. We make choices every day that take us down one path over another. The thing I've learned is, there generally aren't any signposts along the way.""They say that if a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian rain forest, it can change the weather half a world away. Chaos theory. What it means is that everything that happens in this moment is an accumulation of everything that's come before it. Every breath. Every thought. There is no innocent action. Some actions end up having the force of a tempest. Their impact cannot be missed. Others are the blink of an eye. Passing by unnoticed."Be sure to read the Book Club Questions at the end. As well as the discussion between the author and Mary Kubica, another well known author - it will give you much insight into the novel.As a reviewer said, you will be left thinking about this story long after you've finished reading it. Especially when the author ends the novel with: "Only you will be left to judge. Were we innocent? Were we guilty? You tell me...."I definitely will be reading other books by this author.

Excellent book. It is well paced and suspenseful, the character development is great. Loved it. Once again youHit it out of the park Catherine.

Loved the story and characters. It was great to read different point of views and timelines. Wasn't a huge fan of the ending but the twists, turns and unexpected happenings made it a great read. Would definitely recommend

I like the way you got to understand the character's as it swapped between different timeline s ,very good story,kept me interested right to the end,I would recommend it

A very well written and enjoyable book. The event to which everything leads up is a bit anticlimactic, but in the meantime I had a good time. McKenzie seems at home with any of the subjects and that is a pleasure as well.

I received this book early in exchange for an honest review.I'm a huge fan of Catherine McKenzie's and have been since I read her debut novel "Spin" and her books to follow have not disappointed.Fractured had me hooked from the first page. An intriguing twist of stalking and nosy neighbors, the kind you want to have as neighbors only and not genuine friendship with them. There is always that one busy body that has to rule the others. The story goes from being told by Julie to being told by John (her neighbor) so you have to keep in mind who it is being told by.I found it pretty cool to see bits of Catherine's true personality in this book, being her Facebook friend and seeing parts that I could see her truly posting as a status and that is only from her Facebook as we have never met in person. I will purchase this in the Ebook form to have in my personal library.I cannot wait to read the book that goes along with this story, "The Murder Game" by Julie Apple, what a clever idea by Catherine to write this book by her characters name in this book, Fractured.I may be biased as I love everything she writes but all of the stories are such easy reads and you won't want to put it down.I didn't want to give anything specific about the book away in my review as I, myself don't like reading reviews that I get most of the story plot from but I can honestly say you will not be disappointed and if this is your first time reading this author, I bet you will end up purchasing all of her books.She loves to interact with her "fans" and just seems like a genuinely nice person and my #1 Canadian author, let's get this book to #1 for her :)