Review: 'The Ex' by S.E. Lynes

What if you met the person you once thought was the love of your life after a year has passed since your very ugly break-up? And what if there might be a baby involved? Meet The Ex, an absolutely bonkers book that I had a surprisingly fun time with because it is, this is worth repeating, absolutely bonkers. Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My sincere apologies for the extreme delay in reviewing!

Pub. Date: 26/08/2022
Publisher: Bookouture

The love of your life… or a deadly mistake?

It’s hard, meeting your ex after so much time apart. You remember the tears and accusations, the desperate look on his face as he punched the wall, but you try not to show it. You smile politely, even while your heart beats faster.

You watch as he looks down into the stroller, at the beautiful blond-haired blue-eyed baby kicking his little legs in the sunshine, whose innocent smile lights up your world.

You see his face change. You know what he’s thinking.

The next day he calls. His voice is shaking. He wants the truth. Is it his child?

You hesitate, your throat dry, good and bad memories swirling in your mind. You’ve missed him so much… but can you ever trust him again?

You decide that the most important thing is doing what’s right for baby Tom. But months later, when the sirens wail in the night, you have to admit: you never thought either of you would go this far…

I have in the past complained about thrillers or suspense novels working a way towards an insane twist that feels unearned. While I love a good twist, I want it to feel inevitable when it does come, rather than feeling as if the twist has undermined half of the book. In the case of The Ex we also get a delightfully bonkers twist but it is not unearned. It is fully deserved by the fact that everyone in this book is operating in a realm of nonsense. Even this nonsense, however, is earned because The Ex is one of the few books I've read in which I've really liked how the pandemic was used. The lockdowns were such a break in our usual lives that suddenly not seeing each other for long stretches became normal and new or odd ways of behaving were not quite as unusual as normally. People moved in together quickly, in order to not be separated by lockdown, and other people went completely underground. So setting a thriller during this period creates a very productive atmosphere in which all kinds of otherwise irrational behaviour becomes understandable. Now, the main characters of this book do push this to something of an extreme, but it somehow worked. The novel is also aided in this by the fact that it has an obviously unreliable narrator who admits, in text, to imagining certain things and being heavily biased. Again, for me, this added to the fun of it all.

The Ex is narrated by Miranda who begins the novel by explaining to us that Sam really isn't guilty of all the things the media are writing about him, that it was all a big misunderstanding. While the whole story is largely told from a third-person omniscient perspective, it is in fact Miranda who continues telling us what is going on and she occasionally interjects to make her own thoughts and opinions known or to admit she wasn't present during this scene and is therefore merely postulating. I love a loud and proud unreliable narrator like this. Miranda tells us the story of her friend Sam, who she has a crush on. A year on from his horrible break-up with the emotionally abusive Naomi, he suddenly runs into her again and she has a baby with her who looks just like him. While the blurb above is all from Naomi's perspective, it is actually Sam who is the focus of the book. Is this his child? Turns out, yes. So, despite the state of their relationship a year ago, the two decide to attempt coparenting and maybe reconnecting. Can this end well? Anyone who's ever witnessed a friend backsliding knows the answer, though the form it takes here is, say it with me, insanely bonkers. Both Sam and Naomi are somewhat cliche, in that he is literally a gentle giant and she is the worst, yet S.E. Lynes manages to somehow give them enough sharp edges to occasionally break through those stereotypes.

This is my first time reading something by S.E. Lynes, but it's not going to be the last. I loved how confidently out there the book was with some of its structure and writing choices. Lynes, in my opinion, writes beautifully and really draws you in with how she structures her writing. I also, as said above, love the set-up of the narration itself, with Miranda as an outsider attempting omniscience, placing herself in the heads of all the other characters. There are also some letters from Naomi which are "reproduced" and those formed a nice little contrast. The Ex, despite the insane plot, is quite tightly plotted and thought through and, along with the quality of the writing, it was one of my favourite thrillers of the year. 

I give this novel...

4 Universes!

For what it is, The Ex is great! While it did push me to the limits of my suspense of disbelief here and there, I think Lynes has written a very fun thriller that takes all kinds of twists and turns!