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alykat_reads's review against another edition
fast-paced
4.5
A random thrift store find years ago that finally was up on my TBR shelf - and what a pleasant surprise. I could not put this one down! The plot was great, and I enjoyed a majority of the characters. And unfortunately it was MC Avery that I couldn't stand the most.
I understand that she was devastated with her dad's apparent suicide, so its understandable that she would be wishy-washy, but her swings were too extreme. One minute she would be 100% behind Gwen, and then 2 sentences from Buddy or Matt and she would be 100% against her. Then she would treat Gwen terribly, but then expect her to be 100% forgiving when her next extreme swing would happen. It was extremely annoying. The way she blindly trusted everything Matt and Buddy said was also really annoying, especially when we were supposed to believe that she's this amazing investigative journalist. Seeing hard evidence, but then changing her mind only because Buddy or Matt insisting she was just trying to rid herself of her guilt over her father's suicide. Not the greatest investigative work.
I wanted to see more justice for Sally at the end. While technically Lilah didn't kill her, it was her events that spiraled off this entire thing, so for her to just be able to walk away after stabbing a pregnant woman, even if it was 15 years prior, left an unsatisfactory taste in my mouth. Cherry I can excuse a little more because she was just 10 at the time, but it was kind of irritating in the last scene how she still was trying to cover for Matt, even though she knew he killed like 10 people, and many in horrific ways. She's an adult now (and a majority of the murders happened within the last year) and shouldn't have gotten to play the 'child innocence' card any longer. Too many people that were either providing information and/or silent but knew what was happening got away scot-free. There were some 'true patriot' mentions in there that made me eye roll, but at the end of the book when the 'true patriot' turned out to be the psychopath, all was forgiven haha. Extreme nationalism is never a good thing, so I was glad when the extreme nationalist turned out to be the bad guy.
Growing up in a small town of 1500, I also find it really hard to believe that the townspeople wouldn't have been more concerned about all the "accidents" and the unusually large number of unnatural deaths. While we had our fair share of suicides, farming accidents, and drunk driving accidents that resulted in deaths; it was nowhere near 10 within a year. We felt like we had an unusually high number of deaths with 1 or 2 every 1-2 years; 10 would have sent the town into a spiral and people would have been so on edge, especially with many being respected, well-loved members of the community. The lack of concern / near complete apathy towards this didn't ring true at all of small town living.
Even through all that, I still really enjoyed this book and am really glad I randomly picked it off the shelf so many years ago in order to expand beyond the same 5 authors I was reading.
I understand that she was devastated with her dad's apparent suicide, so its understandable that she would be wishy-washy, but her swings were too extreme. One minute she would be 100% behind Gwen, and then 2 sentences from Buddy or Matt and she would be 100% against her. Then she would treat Gwen terribly, but then expect her to be 100% forgiving when her next extreme swing would happen. It was extremely annoying. The way she blindly trusted everything Matt and Buddy said was also really annoying, especially when we were supposed to believe that she's this amazing investigative journalist. Seeing hard evidence, but then changing her mind only because Buddy or Matt insisting she was just trying to rid herself of her guilt over her father's suicide. Not the greatest investigative work.
Growing up in a small town of 1500, I also find it really hard to believe that the townspeople wouldn't have been more concerned about all the "accidents" and the unusually large number of unnatural deaths. While we had our fair share of suicides, farming accidents, and drunk driving accidents that resulted in deaths; it was nowhere near 10 within a year. We felt like we had an unusually high number of deaths with 1 or 2 every 1-2 years; 10 would have sent the town into a spiral and people would have been so on edge, especially with many being respected, well-loved members of the community. The lack of concern / near complete apathy towards this didn't ring true at all of small town living.
Even through all that, I still really enjoyed this book and am really glad I randomly picked it off the shelf so many years ago in order to expand beyond the same 5 authors I was reading.
nm_young's review against another edition
4.0
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I really like this book . It’s a very enjoyable story, but just short of epic. Certain areas may not be as fulfilling as they could have been. I’m not quite as captivated or blown away, but still had a great experience. I’d recommend this book to others and continue reading from this author. I would probably re-read it.
I really like this book . It’s a very enjoyable story, but just short of epic. Certain areas may not be as fulfilling as they could have been. I’m not quite as captivated or blown away, but still had a great experience. I’d recommend this book to others and continue reading from this author. I would probably re-read it.
heidi_84's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
shannan208's review against another edition
4.0
This book was pretty good, though some aspects of it were a bit far-fetched.
wombat_88's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sir_presh's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting Plot, no suspense whatsoever .The main character who is supposed to be an investigative journalist is annoyingly naïve at times resulting in an unnecessarily drawn out book.
sparkleboymatty's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
bibliobethreads's review against another edition
4.0
Good book especially the ending which was fantastic!