I think it’s only natural for authors to draw influence from the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic (circa 2019-2021) — it’s so surreal to think we’re five years removed from that — and it’s cool to see something like this hit the shelves. It’s a backdrop that is perfect for crime/mystery/thriller novels and I’m glad to have read this as my TBR Pick #2 for June. But having just finished this less than an hour ago, at the time of writing there is one thing you need to know — 56 Days is at its core a tragic love story. It is a mystery, and both main characters aren’t totally truthful about who they are, but this isn’t quite a traditional, twisty, murder mystery thriller that gets your heart pumping. It’s a tragic love story with an overarching mystery and a setting/time frame that doesn’t dominate the entire story.
56 Days By Catherine Ryan Howard
Reading the premise of this novel, first published in August 2021, it’s very easy to think and assume it’s a straight-up thriller:
“No one knew they’d moved in together. Now one of them is dead. Could this be the perfect murder?
56 DAYS AGO
Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin the same week Covid-19 reaches Irish shores.
35 DAYS AGO
When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests that Ciara move in with him. She sees a unique opportunity for a new relationship to flourish without the pressure of scrutiny of family and friends. He sees it as an opportunity to hide who – and what – he really is.
TODAY
Detectives arrive at Oliver’s apartment to discover a decomposing body inside.
Will they be able to determine what really happened, or has lockdown provided someone with the opportunity to commit the perfect crime?”
56 Days. Catherine Ryan Howard. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57628810-56-days.
It seems exactly like that, right? That’s what initially drew me to it and why I put it on my TBR List; this is the perfect premise for someone to try and commit “the perfect murder,” and it’s ideal for that locked-door, close-proximity type of thriller that you can’t put down. But as I mentioned before; 56 Days isn’t exactly like that.
What I really want to mention right out of the gate — since this story does take place in Dublin, Ireland between March and April 2020 — is that while this novel’s set-up relies heavily on the initial COVID-19 lockdown and quarantine, that doesn’t dominate the entire thing. Right off the bat I love this concept for a thriller because this (at the time) two week isolation period is the perfect opportunity for something nefarious to happen.
But Howard as an author is not blatant about the pandemic; she correctly operates under the assumption that the reader already knows all about it (which I appreciate) and COVID-19 does not control or influence the bulk of the story. It’s a convenient way to have these characters’ relationship move very quickly, and suits the book’s mystery, without it sounding preachy, judgemental, or — for lack of a better term — political. It’s an element of the story, and not the whole story, which I deeply love and appreciate. This opinion is also coming from someone who worked in broadcast news and reported on the pandemic literally nearly every single day from late 2019 to mid 2021, so keep that in mind.
Outside of that story element, like I said before, 56 Days is a crime mystery and is told in dual timelines (because of course it is). In one timeline, you’re following the cops as they get calls about a smell coming from Oliver’s apartment, find the body, and start the initial investigation; in the other, you’re following Oliver and Ciara meeting and the start of their relationship. The book is also told in dual perspectives — in the “before” timeline you get perspectives from both main characters. Most of the mystery comes from trying to figure out who the body belongs to and how the person died, but also trying to figure out what both main characters are trying (or possibly trying) to hide from each other.
The mystery is good, good enough that it kept me trying to figure out what had possibly happened; the scene the cops find initially is quite strange and is really good for activating the detective slide of your brain for anyone that is into true crime or crime thriller books. But greater than that is the tragedy of it all and how while Oliver and Ciara may deeply care for each other, and could in another life be in a relationship, that isn’t how the story ends. It’d be so easy to take this meet-cute of two people and having their first dates and have them blindly quarantine together, only to have one of them meet a serial-killer type of end. But Howard doesn’t do that, and I think it’s refreshing.
The pacing of the story reflects this; it’s not incredibly twisty and can be at times considered slow, with not a lot of adrenaline in the first half and it only really picking up in the second half. More and more you learn about what Oliver and Ciara are hiding from each other and it all comes together to be more drama than thriller. I know 56 Days is classified as a thriller — and I see why — it just feels overall like a thriller romance drama, with more emphasis on the drama than on the murder/crime elements. Nobody is really trying to escape the bad guy, find the bad guy, or solve the murder (not even really the cops); it’s more about the relationship between the characters and the tragedy of being so close to something, but that something can never truly be.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I like it better than my first TBR Jar Pick, and I think this is a cool take on, like I said before, a setting/timeline that can inspire a lot of murder mystery creativity. This is the first novel I’ve read from this author, but I would consider reading more after this one. Fair warning — 56 Days resonated with me personally as a more sentimental suspense story instead of your typical adrenaline-inducing, twisty, roller-coaster ride. If we look at the book in that sense, it may not be as strong, but it struck me as a relationship-focused story and an exploration of two characters falling in love while also hiding an important part of their past. So that is how I choose to take it. Besides — you could even say it’s accurate for people being forced to quarantine and finding way more about themselves and each other than they care to.
My Hot Takes (Spoiler Warning)
- I do really enjoy the reason why Oliver isn’t being totally honest about his past or why he’s in Dublin of all places. I think it’s unique — I’ve heard of real-life crime cases that follow that style — and it still makes us as the reader feel sympathetic toward him.
- So many parts of this book are so cute and that’s part of what makes it so tragic; they both loved each other and it could’ve worked, if things have just been a little different.
- The second climax of this book rubbed me the wrong way, I have to say. The real climax is when Oliver confesses his backstory to Ciara, but shortly after that there is a second reveal (the final “twist” of the story). That second reveal seems out of nowhere honestly and I don’t really like it. We just had the big reveal, so this feels like just adding onto it. Like a hat on a hat. I can see how it works with the tragic love story and the final ending, but still.
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
