“A haunting psychological thriller that will stick with you long past the final chapter.” – Best Thrillers Sometimes that little voice in your head isn’t always yours.What if the only friend you have isn’t real? When the voices in his head begin to make sense, high school senior Branson Kovac turns to the one friend he’s still got… only to discover he’s not really there.
I am not even sure what I want to write about this story. I thought it was going to be a mystery/suspense for some reason. It’s more about coming to terms with mental illness. This is on the heavy side because it’s a teen. So we learn a bit on how he deals with it as well as how his family learns about it and how they deal with it. At the beginning it seemed very confusing. I read the first couple chapters more than once. Trying to figure out whom was actually talking. It said at the beginning of the chapters who it was about but it was misleading in the chapter. I think the author tried to add some trickery at the end as well but it seemed to again confuse me. Anyway this is story is insightful and horrid at the same time. The author did a good job showing the reader both. I was happy at the ending but the Epilogue just threw me for a loop. Now I don’t know what to think.
This isn’t my first book by this author. I enjoy her storytelling and her characters always seem so life-like. The book read choppy for me at first but then smoothed out.
A Divided Mind by Mary Billiter is a fantastic story about a teenager struggling with mental illness and learning how to cope with it.
This book is not at all what I was expecting. When I first started reading it I thought it was going to be more of a mystery/thriller type book. When I realised what the story was actually about it intrigued me more. While a lot of books tend to touch on this subject it always seems to be very briefly, and in a minor character. The way the author tries to delve into the mind of someone suffering in this way should be applauded.
The story takes you on such a journey as not just Branson tries to figure everything out but so do his family. You could feel how much emotion and thought was put into the book. This was a brilliant read and one that has definitely left me thinking afterwads.
Thrillers are often one of my guilty pleasures. So when I saw the gripping cover for A Divided Mind I sort of went in blind. I have not read M. Billiter before so I was also new to her writing. I think I was quite pleasantly surprised by what this book turned into being. I will say right now, this book doesn’t really belong in the thriller category, to me at least. It doesn’t mean this book wasn’t great it is just miscategorized for what the story truly does tell.
What do we get then if not a thriller? A very emotional and thought provoking journey of a young man, Branson, and his fight with his mental health. This is written in dual POV sharing his thoughts and journey and being balanced with his mother’s, Tara, point of view. I really felt so much emotion every single time I would get to his parts of the book. I wanted to reach in and give him a hug. Tara on the other hand, I struggled to get attached to. I kind of feel like she went about things in some questionable ways. In the same point, it made the story have dimension to see her struggles with dealing with single motherhood and a mentally troubled son. Overall, for me this was a pretty solid four star read. I will definitely be on the look-out for more novels by M. Billiter and I look forward to seeing what new things are in the works.
This is a young adult story about mental illness. This is a well written story with great characters. The author’s attention to detail made me feel as if I was right there with them. It is told in the POV of all the characters which made it for fast reading. It takes you on a journey of a family that has to deal with mental illness and trying to hold it together. Hearing voices in your head can feel real as real can be as Branson is just about to find out. I highly recommend this book.