A review by kcraig73
The Return by Rachel Harrison

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book is middling for me. The supernatural elements were very good though some of them don’t make any sense. For example,

what is actually happening with the hotel? I assumed that the hotel was going to be some kind of trap created by Julie because Julie had been missing for two years and the hotel had been open for two years, there was also the moving wallpaper and the shifting architecture, the fact that there is only supposed to be 8 rooms but more than that are described, the terrible weather, etc. Is the hotel under her influence or is it just the character’s fear or a red herring or something else entirely? I also don’t fully understand why Julie was making everyone sick. Was she feeding off of them? Was it just their exposure to her rotting corpse body? What’s going on there?

The main character is also deeply unlikeable. The relationship between Elisa and Julie is deeply codependent and I can’t tell if that was supposed to be intentional or not. The book is also very overwritten with many pages of text that could have been completely eliminated from the story as they serve no purpose to the plot. The dialogue in the book was very immature and at some points pretty cringe worthy especially since these women are supposed to be in their 30s but mostly act like they’re in their teens. I did however enjoy the reading experience for this book and read it over one weekend so it’s middling for me.