Reviews

Nope. Didn't like it.

Mysteries should be such; that keeps you at the edge of your seat, that deprives you of your sleep. I put it down so many times, wasn't feeling interested tbh. Few chapter in, and I figured out who the culprit was. Then if we are talking about the psychological thriller aspect, I prefer having more focus on exploration of the characters' psych. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case here.
For first 75% of the book nothing really happens, just some tidbits which weren't gripping enough. For last 25%, BAM! That's it.

Yes this was gory, twisty, disturbing. But these were the things I knew and expected before going into this. I felt the author just put some elements into it to make this intentionally gory, those felt out of the place and not for the sake of the plot.

I've started watching the HBO show. Amy Adams is cast as Camille, watched two episodes and the cinematography and editing are really good.

mochazur's review against another edition

Go to review page

i’m surprised by how much i didn’t like this at all.

camille: i feel literally nothing for her. she’s just so bland and unremarkable. the banter she has with dick is probably the most interesting thing about her personality. i can see how her past traumas made her into who she is today but somehow it all fell flat to me.
the ending especially is so boring. the plot twist is revealed and done with in like 5 pages and i’m just kind of like: uh duh??
amma: to me, 13 is a little grown for how childish she acts. i understand she’s emotionally underdeveloped, but it would’ve been a more interesting read if it was done more artfully (??). take the scene with john when she’s greasing herself up in front of him and then straight up flashes him. that was insane and i couldn’t even take it seriously because it was just absurd. it was just too all over the place for me and she came across as a caricature of someone with deep seated mental health issues vs a genuine complicated young girl.
pacing: SO SLOW. all that build up in the beginning for a whole load of nothing. the writing itself wasn’t unbearable.
amount of characters: it’s a small town and i still felt like i had to keep track of a bajillion people that literally don’t even matter in the end

cyndireadsbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

I'm not ready to rate this book yet. I can't decide if I really liked it or not. It's the first of her three novels, but the last I read, and I definitely liked it the best. One consistent thing between the three books is that her characters are SERIOUSLY messed up. Not just, "I had a bad childhood and I'm a little screwed up." SERIOUSLY messed up. There are so many things in this book that are just so wrong, but inside the world of the book and these people, they are believably wrong.