Book Review: The World Breaks Everyone | Lauren Clark

Seriously unputdownable—I am buzzing with energy over my obsession with The World Breaks Everyone by Lauren Clark! Can I gush for a moment? This book was one of my favorite of 2018 (and I have read some AMAZING books in 2018). We got this about a month ago, and I’ve been going along with my scheduled reads until all three of us could read this together. And can I just say, I was expecting to enjoy it, but I ended up blown away! We were literally texting late into the night about how we couldn’t put this book down! For a virtual book club, a book that can bring that level of excitement across the country (east coast, Midwest, and west coast representing here) is truly an amazing experience. If you are a thriller lover, choose The World Breaks Everyone for your next book club pick—you won’t regret it!

About the Book

Olivia is on the cusp of her 17^th birthday, but fading away from her life…

Just two years ago her mother passed away, and Olivia can barely cope with the knowledge that it was her fault. Now, her father Theo is truly making it in the culinary world of New Orleans with his much-anticipated restaurant opening. On the night of the opening, Olivia plans to take a break from her life for good—she’s heading to Baja with her boyfriend Gabe. That is the plan, anyways. But when an attack on herself and her father occurs, Olivia finds herself on the run.

Kate is excited to finally meet her boyfriend Theo’s daughter…

On the night of Theo’s restaurant opening, Kate arrives as scheduled, but finds herself caught in the middle of a drunken fight and ends up with a black eye. When Theo and his staff rush to take care of her, Olivia finds out about their relationship in the worst possible way. Kate leaves for work at the crisis center, only to learn about the attack on Theo and Olivia later that evening.

Theo tells Olivia to run…

In the wake of the attack, Olivia runs. She doesn’t know who to trust, or where to go. But she does know one thing—someone is after her and her father, and they are willing to take out whoever is in their path to get to them. And though Olivia doesn’t know Kate, she may be the one person Olivia can trust.

Reflection

I mentioned this was a book club read with two of my besties, Berit and Jennifer. What I didn’t mention is that Jennifer is already a big fan of this author. In fact, Jennifer is the one to recommend this book to us. I cannot be more excited that she did, because I absolutely loved this twisty cat-and-mouse thriller! This is the best part about the book community—I took a chance on something new that a friend told me about, and now I have a new favorite author to follow!

The tension that Clark built in this story is the reason that thrillers are a top genre. From the moment Olivia ran that night, I couldn’t stop reading. I felt uneasy when she was alone, and paranoid when someplace she turned for help didn’t feel quite right. I felt tempted to trust characters and not trust others, based on their words and actions. It felt like I was on the run along with Olivia!

And then the alternating storyline with Kate was fantastic. I absolutely loved Kate as a character. First, Kate is a psychologist and that alone gave me an initial connection. But Kate is so much more than that—she has a vulnerability and damage to her, that through her authenticity and raw emotions displays a strength of character I admired. Kate feels jealousy, but admits her irrationality. She isn’t perfect. She isn’t without basic human mistakes. But Kate is also humble and strives to constantly be more empathetic by reframing her thoughts to understand what others are going through. She’s a beautiful person and a joy to read about. Her chapters were so important, not just because of how great she is, but because she kept us informed of the search of Theo and Olivia.

I can’t say much more without spoilers, but I want to say that the twists through the characters and plot delighted me! I trusted and mistrusted every single character as events unfolded, switching back and forth. I was right along with Olivia as she followed her gut instinct, in the absence of a trusted advisor or even a good night’s sleep to make rational decisions with. What a ride!