No Exit

The premise is a bit dodgy, and some of the events that unfold are rather convenient, but this is a good thriller to breeze through when you want something uncomplicated and easy. I picked this up and finished it within a day, though not consecutively; but it fits well with this rather early autumn chill. There are curious twists and turns in the narrative, and even the characters—though sometimes formulaic—have some surprises up their sleeves. From my previous experience with contemporary thrillers, like Riley Sager, I knew not to examine or fret over details thoroughly and enjoy it like a movie. Given that this was adapted into a film pretty quickly, it makes sense—the fast-paced action and dialogue are appropriate for treating it as such.

This is more of a ‘survive the night’ thriller, as I guess they are called, and not really a ‘whodunnit’. The abduction and its course are revealed fairly early on, and our protagonist, Darby, is our sympathetic hero who must try and put a stop to the events. This premise is what initially compelled me to put this book on my TBR, and it is a fun one. Darby makes stupid decisions at times, but she also thinks of creative plans and is able to persevere and adapt to her situation—something I can’t exactly say for Sager’s protagonist. Though she was frustrating at times, I also had to concede that she thought some things through that I wouldn’t have. Adams certainly wants his readers to have a good time and keeps it fairly simple, but he also wants to challenge them a bit. I didn’t anticipate every single twist, though some aspects were predictable—and it was still an enjoyable experience.

The characters are more or less vehicles for the plot; there is some backstory that is relevant, but given the short breadth of the text, it is hard to offer an in-depth comparison between the characters’ histories and their motives, or anything of that sort. The themes are also a bit hard to pin down, since much of the story is focused on telling us about the actions and reactions of our protagonist in her attempts to rescue the kidnapped girl. There isn’t really an interesting explanation given for why our protagonist has a particularly odd hobby, for instance; it seemed like it might have some sort of subtextual meaning, but this isn’t the kind of book where I tried to think that much into it. So maybe it does have some interesting relevance or things to say and I just didn’t engage with it as fully as I could have. There were some interesting motifs that I noticed, and I appreciated that Adams kept those in mind; it helps to give the narrative some more cohesion.

Not a perfect book by any stretch of imagination, but for a quick thriller read, it was fun and a good one to cozy up with during this damn autumn chill. Summer just disappeared like it never happened… not that I miss the overbearing heat, but I also was not ready to deal with this chill so quickly—and given the energy crisis too… ah well.