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A review by jakegreyxx
Lies Like Poison by Chelsea Pitcher
2.0
I’ve had another book by this author on my “want to read” list for a few years, but I found this one first, and it was… not great. It wasn’t terrible either.
There’s a trans character in this book, and I was a bit worried at the start, but I really like the way this was handled. The way they were written, and the way that character’s story played out. It worked nicely.
This book is a bit slow, it’s not the kind that keeps you on edge or needing to know more. It kind of just hums along.
There are also flashback moments, and you have to really be paying attention to notice when they happen. There’s no distinction or warning that they’re happening, it just changes. Sometimes in the middle of a page. No space between paragraphs, no hint at an oncoming memory, no font change. It just happens, and you have to figure it out.
The story as a whole has fairytale vibes, which makes sense with all the mentions of fairytales, showing the vibes were very much intended. This was something that worked quite well for the book, and possibly one of my favourite features. Flowers were also a recurring theme in several ways throughout the book, and I quite liked this too.
There were two mysteries in this book and the people behind both of them were easy to predict. However, the reasoning behind them was a bit more of a twist. The main one had a clear reason that could have made a lot of sense, there was hinting, background, a clear motive, and a lot of things that would’ve made that reasoning make sense. But instead, we went with something that, while still motive, didn’t feel as solid. It didn’t make as much sense as what could have happened, and it feels as though the author used this other reason as one final twist, rather than looking for the best way to close the story.
Though, on the subject of closing the story… it didn’t really happen. We don’t know what happened in the end, and it all felt a bit rushed and childish. Not to mention, the final moment with the killer completely contradicts what happened 20 seconds earlier.
There’s a trans character in this book, and I was a bit worried at the start, but I really like the way this was handled. The way they were written, and the way that character’s story played out. It worked nicely.
This book is a bit slow, it’s not the kind that keeps you on edge or needing to know more. It kind of just hums along.
There are also flashback moments, and you have to really be paying attention to notice when they happen. There’s no distinction or warning that they’re happening, it just changes. Sometimes in the middle of a page. No space between paragraphs, no hint at an oncoming memory, no font change. It just happens, and you have to figure it out.
The story as a whole has fairytale vibes, which makes sense with all the mentions of fairytales, showing the vibes were very much intended. This was something that worked quite well for the book, and possibly one of my favourite features. Flowers were also a recurring theme in several ways throughout the book, and I quite liked this too.
There were two mysteries in this book and the people behind both of them were easy to predict. However, the reasoning behind them was a bit more of a twist. The main one had a clear reason that could have made a lot of sense, there was hinting, background, a clear motive, and a lot of things that would’ve made that reasoning make sense. But instead, we went with something that, while still motive, didn’t feel as solid. It didn’t make as much sense as what could have happened, and it feels as though the author used this other reason as one final twist, rather than looking for the best way to close the story.
Though, on the subject of closing the story… it didn’t really happen. We don’t know what happened in the end, and it all felt a bit rushed and childish. Not to mention, the final moment with the killer completely contradicts what happened 20 seconds earlier.