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A review by litwithleigh
In The Clearing by J.P. Pomare
3.0
Writing: 4/5 | Plot: 3.5/5 | Ending: 3.5/5
3.5 rounded down.
THE PLOT
Freya is pretending to be normal. But when her son goes missing, her mask starts to slip. Amy has only known The Clearing, but she starts to wonder what's poppin on the outside. When their stories intertwine, the past is exposed.
MY OPINION
I'm a h0e for cults. So automatically this puts the book on my "good side." If you don't like cults, skip this read. It is all about cults.
This was a tough one to rate because on one hand, I love anything to do with cults, but on the other hand, this just wasn't hittin EMOTIONALLY. Yes, the torture scenes at the cult were difficult to read (in fact I had to skim past some of the gorier ones), but I didn't feel anything from Freya about her missing son. She kept thinking about how much she missed him, but idk... it's hard to explain but I felt like she was saying all the right things, but the emotion was missing.
I didn't feel any urgency or despair over Billy's disappearance. She seemed preoccupied with protecting her past and trying to figure if her mum was a fake ass hoe.
If you saw my update, I made a guess about the twisty twist, and boy was I OFF. But I felt that the first twist was lacklustre. I would've preferred my prediction LOL.
SPOILERS SO SCROLL AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET
Perhaps it's because I've read an abnormal amount of thrillers, but I felt like the twists were been there, done that. The fake journal? Seen it. (But I did feel bad for Adam. WTF. Adrienne chose to protect a violent pedo over Adam, who was fiercely loyal and a lifesaver??? K....) The ex-cop keeping tabs on her? Immediately made me think of Final Girls by Riley Sager. Her brother actually didn't get his shit together and was starting Blackmarsh 2.0? Ok.
I felt like the final Aspen twist was random. Given his background, you would think Wayne would warn him about Blackmarsh and all the whackos, but somehow he ends up falling for Jonas' boo boo? Also the fact Wayne spent so much time (and money) keeping Aspen apart from Freya and then at the end was like "nbd let bygones be bygones" was ????
Ok and last plot hole: Freya wondering if Adrienne was her mom. You would think in an investigation like this, DNA tests would be performed to suss out if the kids were actually hers or stolen, and then they would cross-reference with the missing children's data base?
PROS AND CONS
Pros: well-written, pace was pacing, cult flashbacks were eery af
Cons: twists were lukewarm, some plot holes, lacked emotional punch
3.5 rounded down.
THE PLOT
Freya is pretending to be normal. But when her son goes missing, her mask starts to slip. Amy has only known The Clearing, but she starts to wonder what's poppin on the outside. When their stories intertwine, the past is exposed.
MY OPINION
I'm a h0e for cults. So automatically this puts the book on my "good side." If you don't like cults, skip this read. It is all about cults.
This was a tough one to rate because on one hand, I love anything to do with cults, but on the other hand, this just wasn't hittin EMOTIONALLY. Yes, the torture scenes at the cult were difficult to read (in fact I had to skim past some of the gorier ones), but I didn't feel anything from Freya about her missing son. She kept thinking about how much she missed him, but idk... it's hard to explain but I felt like she was saying all the right things, but the emotion was missing.
I didn't feel any urgency or despair over Billy's disappearance. She seemed preoccupied with protecting her past and trying to figure if her mum was a fake ass hoe.
If you saw my update, I made a guess about the twisty twist, and boy was I OFF. But I felt that the first twist was lacklustre. I would've preferred my prediction LOL.
SPOILERS SO SCROLL AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET
Perhaps it's because I've read an abnormal amount of thrillers, but I felt like the twists were been there, done that. The fake journal? Seen it. (But I did feel bad for Adam. WTF. Adrienne chose to protect a violent pedo over Adam, who was fiercely loyal and a lifesaver??? K....) The ex-cop keeping tabs on her? Immediately made me think of Final Girls by Riley Sager. Her brother actually didn't get his shit together and was starting Blackmarsh 2.0? Ok.
I felt like the final Aspen twist was random. Given his background, you would think Wayne would warn him about Blackmarsh and all the whackos, but somehow he ends up falling for Jonas' boo boo? Also the fact Wayne spent so much time (and money) keeping Aspen apart from Freya and then at the end was like "nbd let bygones be bygones" was ????
Ok and last plot hole: Freya wondering if Adrienne was her mom. You would think in an investigation like this, DNA tests would be performed to suss out if the kids were actually hers or stolen, and then they would cross-reference with the missing children's data base?
PROS AND CONS
Pros: well-written, pace was pacing, cult flashbacks were eery af
Cons: twists were lukewarm, some plot holes, lacked emotional punch