In The Two Lila Bennetts, Lila has been living a life of ambition and immorality, defending criminals who are probably guilty and stepping all over everyone she cares about in her effort to get to the top. When she makes another bad decision, we see her life take two different directions, one in which she is kidnapped, and one in which she is not.
The two diverging story lines are both individually compelling enough. After all, who hasn't thought about what their lives could be if they had made a different choice back in the day? But the book blurb made it seem as if some sort of sci-fi thing was going on where her life is split in two, which isn't the case. We just follow two separate story lines of Lila's life after she does and doesn't do something. That's all.
One thing that is somewhat annoying is how big of a deal the book makes of Lila's transgressions. Sure, she does immoral things, but some are just part of her job and the rest isn't any worse than what probably half the population have done. And we spend so much time in Lila's mind while she analyzes her life and feelings and thinks about how wrong she is. It's exhausting. I know the overblown self-ruminations are just par for this genre, but it greatly contributes to why I didn't enjoy this more.
I did find the pacing of the two story lines to be quite good, and I was equally invested in both. The twist at the end for one of the stories is interesting, though if you think about it, you can come to the conclusion much earlier. And the twist for the other story wasn't really necessary. In the end, all that overwrought self-recrimination aside, the story lines themselves made for an entertaining and decently fun read.
Readaroo Rating: 3 stars
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