Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Sluit alle deuren

This book was okay. Thoughout the story I knew I'd give it three stars-- the writing was okay, not all interesting or unique, but definitely not bad at all, and it was entertaining for what it was worth. It was pretty forgettable. I will say that I didn't the twist coming, but it wasn't shocking, and I'm not sure I would call this story a thriller-- more like a mystery with thriller elements.

I didn't feel very connected to the main character, Jules, as she was very bland with very few defining traits, quirks, or hobbies. As such, I didn't feel her emotions or really care what happened to her, which I think is pretty important for a thriller. The other characters in the book weren't very interesting either. I can say that I did worry for some characters at times, but that's probably just my basic human empathy kicking in.

As I mentioned above, the writing was nothing special. There definitely was more telling than showing, and the imagery was bland. I found myself searching up some of the landmarks mentioned in the book on Google to even be able to visualize Jules' surroundings or get the feeling that she was even in New York.

I can appreciate that the author didn't choose to go with the ~witches worshipping satan~ plot line, as that was what I anticipated for much of the story; however, the real plotwist, albeit more realistic, was a bit of a let down. I can say, though, that the hospital scenes sprinkled between chapters leading up to the big reveal that she was still in the Bartholomew were a nice touch. Though I somewhat guessed there was something up with that as well as soon as it was revealed that the hospital room didn't have windows.

I quite enjoyed the ending, though it was sort of pander-y. I caused me to even consider docking up the rating by .5 points, but nahh. My rating is based off of my overall experience reading-- nothing groundbreaking, just an average story.

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