Verity, by Colleen Hoover, is more than just a psychological thriller, It’s a deep dive into the mind of a psychopath, the tragic story of a family, and a case study on grief all rolled into one. I have a lot to say about this book, and I’m going to try to say it all without spoiling anything. I need to get it out of my head.

That’s the sign of a good thriller, by the way, not being able to stop thinking about it. I read this book in 3 days, and it only took me that long because I needed to give my poor eyes a break from staring at screens every once in a while. If I had the paperback, I would have read it all in one sitting, no matter how late I needed to stay up to finish it.

Colleen Hoover usually writes love stories, which I’m sure aided in her writing the love story sub plot in Verity. The budding love the two characters share is palpable. I felt it in my own heart.

Verity is a departure from Hoover’s other work, but that does not mean it lacks in the suspense or horror areas. I’m an avid fan of horror, and this book scared even me. I felt the suspense as anxiety tightening my chest. I lost sleep because my mind raced over possibilities of how it would end.

I haven’t been this engrossed in a book since reading A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah K. Maas, three years ago: a series I highly recommend.

Verity is the perfect example of how “predictable” doesn’t mean bad. I wouldn’t call it predictable, but I did predict what the title character was doing. Being correct in my prediction didn’t lessen the experience of the journey that is this book. I predicted correctly, but I didn’t know how the author was going to handle it or how it was going to end.

Books are more about the journey to the ending than the actual ending. The journey of Verity is well worth the trip. It’s full of twists and turns, surprises, and horror. From the very first sentence, I was hooked. I couldn’t put it down, so to speak. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about reading it. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since I finished it.

My favorite part was that Hoover left me questioning. The very last sentence was a question to the reader, leaving the whole book up to the reader’s interpretation. I love that. Verity canon is whatever your headcanon is. 

I give this book a solid 10/10. I never give perfect scores, because there’s always room for improvement, but this book, in my opinion, is perfect.