LitPick Review
To Outwit The Fate is a psychological thriller novel by K. E. Adamus about a college student who is faced with life uncertainties, only to be met by a sponsor and be faced with a scene that would change his life drastically. Matt is a young college student. Lately, his life has been filled with unsuccessful occurrences, from being banned from college to his search for a job; every attempt towards success proved to be a failure. One might think he had a grudge with luck, but not until he was hired by an elderly woman named Mrs. Pelagia, who became his sponsor. Unfortunately and unexpectedly, Mrs. Pelagia was found dead with a scarf tied to her neck. With this shocking discovery of Mrs. Pelagia's death, Matt thought of what to do. If he reports the case to the police, he might have to move out of the elderly woman's house and end up being homeless and stranded. After much thought, Matt decides to do an unexpected thing so that he can benefit from her pension. How do you think this decision would turn out to be? Would it also be unsuccessful? What do you think Matt would do with Mrs. Pelagia's body? Why not read and find out!
Opinion:
The story is gripping and filled with suspense as it explores the darker side of the human mind. I could feel my heart racing as the questions like What would be Matt's next move? Would he be caught? came to my mind while reading. When it comes to the suspense used in the book, I would say it was top-notch. The cliffhangers fulfilled their role of keeping me pinned to the story. The part that almost traumatized my mind was when Matt saw Alicia, his friend's hair by the bathtub. Since she was a heavy drinker, he was scared that she had fallen into the bathtub meant to dissolve Mrs. Pelagia's body. Overall, I would say the plot was thrilling, terrifying, and yet a page-turner.
Mrs. Pelagia's house was the location mostly used in the book since it was the place where Matt lived after being sent away by Alicia, who he was staying with before. From the living room with bamboo furniture to the kitchen, bathroom, Mrs. Pelagia's bedroom, and a lounge where she gave Matt to sleep, each part of the house and it surrounding was well-described and created a vivid imagination in my mind as a reader. Apart from that, places like the college Matt attended, the dormitory, cemetery, and stores were also used to carry out the activities that took place.
There were not many characters, but it made the book even better since a vast number of characters might make the plot confusing. The first character, Matt, who is the protagonist, was a normal polish college student, but after the weird decision he made when he discovered his sponsor's body, it had me questioning his sanity. Alicia, his close friend who is described throughout the book as “ugly” and a “liar” is another eerie character. When Matt told her of Mrs. Pelagia's death and even showed her the body where he had hidden it, a normal person would have freaked out, but not Alicia. Her behavior and support toward Matt's plan of doing away with the lifeless body made me conclude that she wasn't quite sane. Well, at some point, I had to pity her for her facial appearance which was not appealing to anyone, and this made her feel bad most times. From the story, Matt's failures made me sad and that was what pushed him to do something very unlawful since he couldn't stand to live out in the street. Yet, I feel that his actions toward the corpse he found were far worse even though he wasn't responsible for the murder. I would rate this book 5 out of 5 stars, and I would recommend it to mature readers of thrillers and mystery books.
