Book Review: The Waiting Room by Emily Bleeker

Ever since her husband’s death collided with the birth of her daughter, postpartum depression has taken hold of Veronica Shelton. She can’t sleep, can’t work, and can’t bear to touch her beautiful baby girl. Her emotional state is whispering lies in Veronica’s ear: You’re a bad mother. Your baby would be better off without you. But not everything can be reasoned away by Veronica’s despair. Can it?

After all, the break-in at her house happened. The disturbing sketches she found in her studio are real. So is the fear for her daughter’s safety—especially when Veronica comes home to a cold, silent nursery and a missing baby.

As she turns from victim into primary suspect, Veronica realizes that only she can find her daughter. Authorities aren’t helping. They’re only watching. Veronica’s concerned mother has suddenly vanished from her life. And a new friend seems to be keeping secrets from her too. Now, reality is waiting for Veronica in a dark place—because someone’s mind games have only just begun.

2.5/5

I received a copy of this book from Thomas Allen & Son in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis was fascinating and it started out really strong, and I was so ready to dive into this and see where the adventure took us, especially since I’d been in a mood for a good thriller and/or mystery lately.

But this book quickly got so ridiculous that it kind of ruined the book. It went from being a mystery about a missing child to ‘what the hell’ fast enough to give a person whiplash. It also gave off hardcore Shutter Island vibes, which made it easy to guess where the whole thing was going. It was a fun read, and wasn’t hard at all to get through, but just so over the top that it made it hard to take anything that was happening seriously.

The Good Points of The Waiting Room:

The pacing and the storytelling throughout the book is great. Even when it was getting insane, it was hard to put the book down, and it was one of those ones where you fly through it and are finished before you even realize.

The way everything comes together in the end is very well done. It’s a satisfying book in that all loose ends are tied up and everything fits into place before you turn the last page.

For a fairly short book, the characters were well developed and came off as different and unique. I wasn’t expecting it, to be honest, because thrillers like this generally struggle in the area of character development. Granted, they weren’t overly deep characters, but they all stood out in their own way, which is more than enough for a book like this.

The Downsides of The Waiting Room:

This book went from okay to absolutely insane so quickly that it was hard to keep up at times. I couldn’t get invested in the mystery because I had a hard time not just laughing at the insane things that Veronica was doing. Combined with the major Shutter Island vibe, it made it hard to take this book seriously, even when it was trying very hard to be serious.

Plot twists come out of nowhere and seem far too convenient most of the time. It’s one of those where it’s ‘of course, you get the address on the first go’, ‘of course it’s not like this’, and so on. If there had been hints or ideas, it would be different, but it was just so easy.

It was just so predictable! As soon as the police reactions started after the baby went missing, it was so clear what was going on, and then it was just the waiting game to see how they would pull it all together.

All in all, this book was alright, but it didn’t quite live up to the genre. It’s less thrilling, and more of a fun, easy read. If you’re new to thrillers, like mental health thrillers, or enjoy a fast paced story, you should definitely check out The Waiting Room.

Find The Waiting Room on Book Depository