“She realized he would probably die quite soon and when she thought of it, she felt a pang of incipient loss. Not because his death would leave an absence in her life, but because his existence had.”

-Elizabeth Day

A rare book I had on my TBR list before it was even released–I think a coworker mentioned it to me? With so many books to read and so little time, I try to avoid letting myself fixate on books that aren’t even out yet.

But I kept this one on my radar, and I’m so glad I did. I’m picky about thrillers, and this one blew me away. The meaning of the title is clear even if you just read the back of the book: magpies are birds that move into another bird’s home and take it over.

I went in expecting it to have a midway twist, excited to try and guess it, ready for the satisfaction of being right…and I was wrong. The twist took my completely by surprise in a delightful way, and in a way that didn’t make me feel cheated. You ever read a book where the author is clearly trying so hard to subvert expectations that what they end up writing makes no sense? Not in this case. I’ve reread the book twice now, and Day does a marvelous job laying the seeds for the twist without tripping over her own foreshadowing. I’m excited to read more of her work!