I have read a few Lisa Unger psychological thrillers so I picked up her latest, Crazy Love You, with high hopes, which unfortunately, were dashed. Unger’s story tracks a treacherous relationship between Ian, the pill popping graphic novelist, and his childhood confidante and protector, Priss.
Ian, an overweight, acne-ridden kid, met Priss in the woods behind his house after suffering a traumatic childhood event. Always in awe that Priss, this lovely, seemingly caring spirit, would actually befriend him. Ian worshipped her and ultimately made her the protagonist in his widely successful series “Fatboy and Priss”.
But as Ian grew, he began to realize that Priss’ devotion to him was a dark force. While narrowly escaping brushes with the law as a child for crimes committed by Priss in her role as his avenger, tensions come to a head between Ian and Priss once Ian meets Megan, the woman he intends to marry. Priss is none too accepting of the proposition and makes her displeasure known through increasingly violent acts of ill will that all circle back to Ian.
Along the way, you begin to realize that Ian’s perceptions about Priss just don’t add up. Is she a real person or a figment of his imagination? This becomes the pulse of the story, but the resolution lacked the catharsis it deserved. I finished the book thinking that there were a hundred pages too many leading up to the denouement and thirty pages too few wrapping it all up.
Published: 2015
Publisher: Touchstone
Elizabeth's rating: 2.5 stars