Good Half Gone was my introduction to the talented Tarryn Fisher, who has also brought us The Wives and The Wrong Family. The set-up is great: Iris, whose identical twin sister (Piper) was kidnapped when they were teenagers, is about to commence work as an intern at the Shoal Island Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where she believes she’ll find the answers to her sister’s disappearance all those years ago. The story alternates between Iris’s perspective as a teenager at around the time Piper was kidnapped from a movie theater, and Iris in present day.
I love a twisty thriller with alternating perspectives, and this one was entertaining to read. Iris is a great character–empathetic, sharply-developed, tenacious, and loving. I was in her corner the entire time, and Fisher does a nice job of establishing and developing what lies at stake in her investigation.
As I was reading this book, I couldn’t help but peek at its Goodreads rating. I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t higher given the premise and the strength of Fisher’s writing. I read a lot, and this was in the top echelon for me–the Shutter Island-like backdrop of the hospital juxtaposed with Iris’s innocence as a teenager is well done, and the pieces were falling into place for a strong ending. There’s a subplot of a flirtation-turned-tryst (and possible romance?) with Iris and the hospital’s lead doctor, Dr. Larson, and the reader is led to think that while Iris won’t get a happy ending–we don’t know exactly what happened to Piper, but realistically she can’t be alive–she’ll get closure and the ability to move on. Iris is also a young mother, and she’s had a tremendous amount of tragedy and responsibility on her shoulders for a long time.
Then I got to the big reveal, and I understood.
Here’s the deal: the ending is not for everyone. I’ll omit all details, but I will offer the following as my opinion on it: it’s wild, and while Fisher leads the reader there with a skillful hand, I had issues with the plausibility aspect above and beyond the typical suspension of disbelief required for a thriller.
But here’s how I always analyze any ending I find questionable. Did it How I Met Your Mother me? (i.e., cram in an ending that didn’t make sense due to the natural evolution of the story in a desperate attempt to keep with the author’s original intention?). No, it did not. The ending is weird, but Fisher doesn’t cheat the reader, and she gives Iris closure.
And it’s a fascinating journey to get to that strange destination. Go ahead and take it.
Sarah Reida is the author of NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH, a dark comedy thriller about a killer targeting the morally bankrupt residents of an upscale neighborhood, which will be out in April. Click here to learn more about Sarah, or follow her on Instagram.
