Review: Phantom Limb by Lucinda Berry


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Release date: December 15, 2016

Genre: Psychological Thriller 

Blurb: 

Emily and Elizabeth spend their childhood locked in a bedroom and terrorized by a mother who drinks too much and disappears for days. The identical twins are rescued by a family determined to be their saviors.


But there’s some horrors love can’t erase…


Elizabeth wakes in a hospital, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak. The last thing she remembers is finding Emily’s body in their bathroom. Days before, she was falling in love and starting college. Now, she’s surrounded by men who talk to themselves and women who pull out their eyebrows.


As she delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Emily’s death, she discovers shocking secrets and holes in her memory that force her to remember what she’s worked so hard to forget-the beatings, the blood, the special friends. Her life spins out of control at a terrifying speed as she desperately tries to unravel the psychological puzzle of her past before it’s too late.


Phantom Limb is a character-driven mystery that begs to be read in a single setting. The shocking and shattering conclusion will make you go back and read it again.


Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors, and The Girl With No Past.

Review: 

I read another book by Berry a few months back, Missing Parts and while I enjoyed that one, I liked this one even more. From the blurb alone I was hooked, I always like reading about the relationship between twins and combine that with holes in one of the characters memories and a dark past and I’m jumping in feet first. 

I will be saying very little about the plot with this one, but there were some killer twists that jarred me. Elizabeth wakes up in a hospital and the last thing she remembers is finding Emily dead and soon enough she’s a patient in a psychiatric hospital. But she knows she’s not crazy, she has worked really hard to overcome her past demons and make something of herself. But she’s confused and unsure about several things her family and team of doctors have been telling her and she has no idea who to believe. 

I loved the pacing here, it was fast and furious and kept me glued to my Kindle. It’s relatively short and with so many crazy things happening, it’s one of those books that just begs you to read it as fast as possible. This was one of those reads where you’re constantly trying to figure out exactly what’s going on and a few times I wondered if I was going a little bit crazy.

As much as I was into the storyline, I really liked the deep look into the human psyche. Berry is a clinical psychologist and it’s very apparent that’s she knowledgeable while reading this, her insight and attention to detail was impeccable. Psychology has always fascinated me and seeing how a high security mental hospital runs was so interesting. 

I do want to mention that this is very dark and disturbing and there is a lot of difficult subject matter from child abuse, eating disorders, sexual abuse and more. 

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Thanks to the author for my review copy. 

32 thoughts on “Review: Phantom Limb by Lucinda Berry”

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