Scan barcode
aliwhitley's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Stalking, and Murder
Moderate: Rape and Violence
marytreybig's review against another edition
dark
3.0
I struggle to give this a rating because it truly was well written. The character development and details were all there.
It moved a little slow for me between the “thrilling” parts. I considered DNF’ing because I have a toddler so I don’t have a ton of time to read right now.
My biggest problem was: I guessed the twist! Pretty early on, I thought I had guessed it but then forced myself to keep going thinking that surely the author was trying to trick us and there would be a different mind blowing twist. Nope, I guessed it and I wasn’t shocked at all and found myself wishing I had just stopped at the 30% mark and googled the ending.
Another problem: Seeing inside the mind of one of the characters just disturbed me. I know it was supposed to be that way, but I didn’t like those parts at all.
Thats just me personally. I am in the camp where I wouldn’t recommend this book but I’m also not telling others to forget about it.
I usually love Peter Swanson so I think this was just an off book for me.
It moved a little slow for me between the “thrilling” parts. I considered DNF’ing because I have a toddler so I don’t have a ton of time to read right now.
My biggest problem was: I guessed the twist! Pretty early on, I thought I had guessed it but then forced myself to keep going thinking that surely the author was trying to trick us and there would be a different mind blowing twist. Nope, I guessed it and I wasn’t shocked at all and found myself wishing I had just stopped at the 30% mark and googled the ending.
Another problem: Seeing inside the mind of one of the characters just disturbed me. I know it was supposed to be that way, but I didn’t like those parts at all.
Thats just me personally. I am in the camp where I wouldn’t recommend this book but I’m also not telling others to forget about it.
I usually love Peter Swanson so I think this was just an off book for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Murder
smileysam's review against another edition
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
3.5
I’m pretty sure that a year or two ago, I listened to a podcast about this book. Despite that, the book was still enjoyable and I didn’t remember all of the twists and turns, which was a plus. I had completely forgotten that Matthew and Richard were the same person, so it still came as a surprise when unveiled. All in all, this book is a good, quick read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, and Murder
rochelleisreading's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, and Murder
Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
gellyreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
So, I can see why some people may feel like this book was trying to do too much, but I had a lot of fun with it. I didn't exactly go where I wanted it to go, even though I really thought I was right on a plot twist or too. I really enjoy books where you can see the killer's point of view , and the fact that this one still had some twists and turns was great for me. I also really enjoyed Hen's point of view, although I'm not sure how accurate of a depiction of bipolar is with it; Swanson also continues to do a decent job of a man writing a woman's view. I definitely didn't see the fact that he didn't have a brother and it was a split personality at all, and I felt incredibly stupid for not realizing that she almost slept with and then got almost raped by one of his victims.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Sexual harassment
kiki9988's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Torture, Stalking, and Murder
ashleyalyse's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I'd like to think I'm fairly observant to common tropes, especially in thriller or horror novels, but the ending of this truly caught me off-guard with an audible gasp. I can't say I've ever done that. It truly kept me listening from start to finish, needing to know what would come next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
adi_rocks_socks's review against another edition
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
That twist!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Murder
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Stalking
marieeh's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
2.0
I have to say, I just didn't love this book. Women written by men are pretty hit or miss for me and this felt like a miss. From the beginning when Hen started following her neighbor who she suspected of murder at night, in a car, and then got out of the car to investigate further on a quiet road - very unbelievable, especially for someone who was written to be not in a manic phase, on correct medication. Like, I just can't picture any woman doing this, there is so much risk. A lot of the decisions she made did not feel like ones a woman who has grown up in this world would make.
As the book went on, I felt like the author really wanted us to feel sympathy for Matthew. Like, look at this poor guy, he's had a bad life, he's been abused, he's only killing men who treat women badly. That plot point reminded me a lot of You, actually.
All of the characters were pretty unlikable and undeveloped, other than Hen and Matthew. And really I don't think they were so developed as much as we just got a ton of backstory and information about them.
Overall I picked 2 stars because it was so easy to read and I didn't want to put it down until about the last 20 percent. At which point I stopped for almost a week before picking it up again because it was just not so engaging anymore. It felt like everything was going to come together a little too well and I just started feeling a little bored. But it wasn't flat out awful. I can see how people would like it, it just wasn't really for me and I don't know if I would try anymore by this author.
A few more spoiler-y points below...
I feel like we should be past using multiple personalities as a shocking plot device. I will admit, when Richard brought Melissa's keychain and left it for Matthew, I had a slight suspicion of "oh, he didn't hand him the keychain, he left it on the mantle... bc how can he hand something to himself if he is his "brother". But I kind of let it go because it had been mentioned how much Mira hated Richard, which made it really seem like he was a real person. This also makes you wonder, if Mira knew that Matthew had a full on second personality, why wasn't she insisting he get help for that?
The whole Lloyd cheating sideplot felt unnecessary. I think the author wanted us to think that the marriage was rocky and maybe both of them were a little too complacent and bored, but I think that could have been achieved in another way that still could have triggered Lloyd to go over to Matthew's house for the confrontation.
Also, the final chapter revealing that Hen had almost been raped by Dustin and that is why she felt so obsessed with the case seemed too extra. We had already seen that she can be manic and obsessive in the flashbacks to her college experience, so it almost makes sense that she could have been so obsessive with Dustin's murder simply because she was off her meds and the murder happened on her street. That doesn't seem too out of character based on how she behaved for the rest of the book.
As the book went on, I felt like the author really wanted us to feel sympathy for Matthew. Like, look at this poor guy, he's had a bad life, he's been abused, he's only killing men who treat women badly. That plot point reminded me a lot of You, actually.
All of the characters were pretty unlikable and undeveloped, other than Hen and Matthew. And really I don't think they were so developed as much as we just got a ton of backstory and information about them.
Overall I picked 2 stars because it was so easy to read and I didn't want to put it down until about the last 20 percent. At which point I stopped for almost a week before picking it up again because it was just not so engaging anymore. It felt like everything was going to come together a little too well and I just started feeling a little bored. But it wasn't flat out awful. I can see how people would like it, it just wasn't really for me and I don't know if I would try anymore by this author.
A few more spoiler-y points below...
The whole Lloyd cheating sideplot felt unnecessary. I think the author wanted us to think that the marriage was rocky and maybe both of them were a little too complacent and bored, but I think that could have been achieved in another way that still could have triggered Lloyd to go over to Matthew's house for the confrontation.
Also, the final chapter revealing that Hen had almost been raped by Dustin and that is why she felt so obsessed with the case seemed too extra. We had already seen that she can be manic and obsessive in the flashbacks to her college experience, so it almost makes sense that she could have been so obsessive with Dustin's murder simply because she was off her meds and the murder happened on her street. That doesn't seem too out of character based on how she behaved for the rest of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Blood, and Stalking
Minor: Infertility
rylol'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder