Review: Sick to Death by Chris Bridges

                                                           

Print Length: TBD

Publisher: Avon Books UK (March 27, 2025)

From Goodreads.com: Meet Emma. Emma is sick.She can’t work because of a neurological condition, so is stuck in her family’s tiny council house.

Emma is sick of being told to ‘get over it’.

Her stepfather, her doctors, strangers – everyone has an opinion.

Emma is sick of being the other woman.

Her boyfriend Adam is he’s got a great job and an amazing home. His wife Celeste is the problem.

Emma is sick of being underestimated.

All she needed was a target. And now she has Celeste…

Emma is sick. Just not in the way you thought.

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Right off the bat I'm going to start off with the thing that annoyed me the most about this book. The bird references. So many stupid bird references. It was nerve grating to say the least. I get it, everyone has a weird quirk about them, but this was just too over the top (I mean she even named her kid Avis because it means bird in Latin for crying out loud). 

I could have probably overlooked this if there had been something redeemable about the characters. However, they were either downright unlikable (such as Emma's step-father Peter who took over her own room as his office even though he knew she had a disability, and would make scathing comments to her at every turn), or they just had completely implausible reactions to events happening around them (I mean seriously, someone breaks into your home with evil intentions and THAT is how you react to it?). Even Emma was hard to connect to, although she was probably the most well-done character of the bunch. It was easy to understand her feelings of being trapped and how she hurt she felt that she couldn't care for her daughter properly. 

There were a few good twists and turns thrown in, but sadly I didn't feel like they were anything original or surprising enough to make me go "wow I didn't see that coming!" In fact, I think there were so many red flags leading up to the big reveals that as desperate for attention and an escape as Emma was, she still should have questioned more. Or done more research especially into a man she was seeing who she already suspected of lying to her on more than one occasion. 

Just because this one wasn't everything I had hoped for however, doesn't mean that others won't like it. In fact, I suspect I will be in the minority with my thoughts, so if the synopsis sounds like something you would like, I encourage you to give it a shot and make up your own opinions. I would give this author another chance. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.