“Men aren’t afraid of misinterpretation. It’s not dangerous to them. Women, we know bad things can happen when someone misreads you.“
– Miranda Brand
Overview of Take Me Apart
The title of this one grabbed me, and the book jacket promised “psychological suspense” and “a dark, thoughtful thriller”. I took it home and immediately read the first hundred pages.
The author introduces us to two compelling female protagonists who live decades apart, Kate Aitken and Miranda Brand. Their stories are connected through Miranda’s son, the mysterious and wealthy tech millionaire, Theo Brand, who is raising two children as a single father.
We meet Kate Aitken in 2017, when the thirty year old leaves New York City and her career in journalism and moves to an affluent seaside town in California. She is hired by Theo Brand to archive a lifetime’s worth of paperwork left behind by his mother, the famous and controversial photographer, Miranda Brand.
We learn about Miranda through her photographs and the documents that have been kept in the home where she lived – everything from old prescription receipts, to diary entries, to newspaper clippings. She died at home of a gunshot wound in 1993, and it was officially declared a suicide. But the circumstances were mysterious, and the small town police department had little experience investigating violent deaths.
Kate becomes enthralled by Miranda’s story, and her journalistic instincts compel her to learn more about her beyond merely studying the archives. But while she investigates the life and death of Miranda Brand, we gradually learn more about Kate herself, and find that the two women actually have a lot in common, including complicated relationships with the same man.
“So the winter episode wasn’t Kate’s first manic episode, just the first one anyone called by that name. The worst one, and the best one, and the first time it ruined her life.”
Final Thoughts
Take Me Apart explores themes including the abuse of power, trauma and mental illness. The protagonists are flawed, fascinating and sympathetic. Kate and Miranda both have dark secrets, and they struggle to determine when and how they should be revealed.
This book quickly becomes engrossing, and the author keeps you guessing about how the mysteries are resolved until the very end.
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