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claudiaslibrarycard 's review for:

Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong
4.0
dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Katrina Kim is broke, isolated, and has a crappy job. And she swears she is not a stalker, but her behavior doesn't really back that up. Liar, Dreamer, Thief drew me in quickly with Katrina's descriptions of alternate worlds and travel between them. So much of Katrina's post college experience is very relatable- underemployed, struggling, ashamed. The way the author layered this with a mystery and with messages about mental health was really enjoyable. 

So Katrina is *not* stalking a coworker at her temp agency named Kurt. But when something terrible happens to him, she decides to investigate. I paid very close attention to this audiobook, and I can't spoil this book because I don't fully understand what happened at the end- but I think that's the point? I kind of love the ambiguity Dong leaves about some aspects of the story. I think it's very intentional. 

So you know, don't pick this up if you want a straightforward mystery, or a thrilling mystery, or a "normal" book. Pick this up if you like weird, you're in the mood for a slightly meandering mystery with a very different kind of semi-reliable narrator. Give it a try if you're open to something out of the box, and if you go in with those expectations I think you might really like it!