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bewareofmittens's review
mysterious
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? Yes
2.0
donnek's review
3.5
I read the first installment back in Dec2022 and just recently stumbled across this second installment and was excited about finally getting around to reading it. Like All the Dark Places, Parlato features a whole cast of suspicious characters in this installment. I actually like these kinds of stories; they really bring out the armchair detective in me. Parlato, once again, has the reader guessing until the end (at least I was) about who the killer is.
Detective Rita Myers and her partner Chase are back with a new case and investigation in Graybridge, a small suburb of Boston. There’s also Esme, a professional dancer who unexpectedly shows up back home, broke and injured after having been let go from her dance company and leaving her chef boyfriend of six years. The book summary introduces the two storylines. One is the murder of Kara (Esme’s high school best friend) on a path from the woods on the edge of Esme’s backyard. The second is the return of the nightmares that Esme had from a night 13yrs earlier when her mother died in a car crash and Esme, who was in the back, escaped a man who, she believes, tried to kill her.
The story flips back and forth between Rita and Esme. From the get-go, I’m flipping back and forth between a bunch of different characters on who I suspect the most. There’s Esme’s divorced brother, Byron, who was dating Kara until their recent breakup. There are also the creepy neighbors, siblings Ray and Cynthia, who have always been outcasts in Graybridge since Cynthia was institutionalized after being accused of killing their sister, Wendy, many years ago. There’s also Esme’s three friends from high school who were all in the same friend’s group with Kara too. I’m also not putting anything past Irene, who is the friend of Esme’s sick and dying father. There’s just something extremely suspicious about her too. Once again, a whole gang of suspects for the murder.
It's into the second half that the two storylines begin merge and a couple of new characters show up in the cast of suspects. At this point, I have no idea who the killer is and Parlato is pretty stingy with any real clues. Heck, even Rita is frustrated at this point because she too has no idea who the killer is. The scary and intense ending was kind of a shocker, yet at the same time, not. As much as I did enjoy this story, I like the first installment better. While I liked this installment and I am committed to the series, I just liked the first installment better than this one. I did like the final scene with Rita though, which was a lead-in for the next installment. I really like Rita!
The characterization was ok for most of the characters. The pacing was good too, the second half a little faster paced than the rest. The storyline was also good, at least good enough to keep me interested and Parlato’s writing had me all over the place trying to guess who the killer was. I like it when a story can do that. I’m looking at an overall rating of 3.4 that I will be rounding up to a 3.5star rating.
Detective Rita Myers and her partner Chase are back with a new case and investigation in Graybridge, a small suburb of Boston. There’s also Esme, a professional dancer who unexpectedly shows up back home, broke and injured after having been let go from her dance company and leaving her chef boyfriend of six years. The book summary introduces the two storylines. One is the murder of Kara (Esme’s high school best friend) on a path from the woods on the edge of Esme’s backyard. The second is the return of the nightmares that Esme had from a night 13yrs earlier when her mother died in a car crash and Esme, who was in the back, escaped a man who, she believes, tried to kill her.
The story flips back and forth between Rita and Esme. From the get-go, I’m flipping back and forth between a bunch of different characters on who I suspect the most. There’s Esme’s divorced brother, Byron, who was dating Kara until their recent breakup. There are also the creepy neighbors, siblings Ray and Cynthia, who have always been outcasts in Graybridge since Cynthia was institutionalized after being accused of killing their sister, Wendy, many years ago. There’s also Esme’s three friends from high school who were all in the same friend’s group with Kara too. I’m also not putting anything past Irene, who is the friend of Esme’s sick and dying father. There’s just something extremely suspicious about her too. Once again, a whole gang of suspects for the murder.
It's into the second half that the two storylines begin merge and a couple of new characters show up in the cast of suspects. At this point, I have no idea who the killer is and Parlato is pretty stingy with any real clues. Heck, even Rita is frustrated at this point because she too has no idea who the killer is. The scary and intense ending was kind of a shocker, yet at the same time, not. As much as I did enjoy this story, I like the first installment better. While I liked this installment and I am committed to the series, I just liked the first installment better than this one. I did like the final scene with Rita though, which was a lead-in for the next installment. I really like Rita!
The characterization was ok for most of the characters. The pacing was good too, the second half a little faster paced than the rest. The storyline was also good, at least good enough to keep me interested and Parlato’s writing had me all over the place trying to guess who the killer was. I like it when a story can do that. I’m looking at an overall rating of 3.4 that I will be rounding up to a 3.5star rating.
madisonmila's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
Really captivating mystery. I love the way the author carries us through the story - with more details coming up as we proceed, I enjoy guessing who did it and changing my theory with all the twists and turns! I’m hopeful for more in this series. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC audiobook.
emilyrchilcoat's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
booklady_katie's review
4.0
First review of February! While I read most of this book in January, I finished it on the first day of this month. I was very excited about this one, as I read a different book by the same author last year—it was my very first @aardvarkbookclub pick!
jorkal22's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
katyjake01's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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
smileitsfree's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Pros
- Fast paced
- Short chapters
Cons
- Long winded
- Poor writing
The writing here is just not good and could have used another round of edits. I hate when a book switches tense and really hate when you say something and that’s not how it's happening. Example: Girl comes home, tells cop in her home they need to talk, cut to next chapter she went to bed??, did not talk to her then, but it's written like the cop never left??? WHAT!! Outside of the poor writing the story itself was very mid. We spent so much time on other plot points that by the end it just felt so deflated. There are better stories out there you can go ahead and skip this one.
C 5 A 5 W 3 P 4 I 4 L 5 E 6 4.5
ignited_redqueen75's review
4.0
The story is read from the point of view of Detective Rita Myers and Esme Roster, Esme is returning home after her career as a Ballerina comes to a stop due to an injury and because her father's health is failing.
We get pulled into Esme's life with snippets from her pass and how her mother passed away, as the story unfolds and we learn more about Esme's mother I have to admit it gave me "Scream vibes," the whole Sydney's mom background plot thing however in What waits in the Woods we are taken a whole different path. It was an interesting path, and I did like the ending.
I found this to be a little bit too slow paced for me at times, and sometimes, I felt a bit lost at what was going on. I don't mind the different POV's, but sometimes I just didn't feel the connection and chemistry between the characters. Esme's character kind of annoyed me. She seemed clueless and whiny for no real good reason. I really wanted to love this book and hate to say anything negative about it, especially since it was a goodreads giveaway win. However, I don't think giving 100% positive reviews is doing the author 's favor. I normally love a slow burn to books, whether it's a romance, thrillers, or even fantasy, but I found myself wishing to hurry and finish this fast and just get over it.
I didn't connect with any of the characters, so that was disappointing.
I finally started getting interested when stuff about Esme's mother started getting revealed and when the situation between her and Mr. York occurred, but this was another situation where I was thinking to myself there were so many red flags. How could Esme be this dumb but it was interesting and actually had me wanting to keep reading. I definitely enjoyed where the author took the ending, I didn't see that coming and made it worth the slow pace moments.
We get pulled into Esme's life with snippets from her pass and how her mother passed away, as the story unfolds and we learn more about Esme's mother I have to admit it gave me "Scream vibes," the whole Sydney's mom background plot thing however in What waits in the Woods we are taken a whole different path. It was an interesting path, and I did like the ending.
I found this to be a little bit too slow paced for me at times, and sometimes, I felt a bit lost at what was going on. I don't mind the different POV's, but sometimes I just didn't feel the connection and chemistry between the characters. Esme's character kind of annoyed me. She seemed clueless and whiny for no real good reason. I really wanted to love this book and hate to say anything negative about it, especially since it was a goodreads giveaway win. However, I don't think giving 100% positive reviews is doing the author 's favor. I normally love a slow burn to books, whether it's a romance, thrillers, or even fantasy, but I found myself wishing to hurry and finish this fast and just get over it.
I didn't connect with any of the characters, so that was disappointing.
I finally started getting interested when stuff about Esme's mother started getting revealed and when the situation between her and Mr. York occurred, but this was another situation where I was thinking to myself there were so many red flags. How could Esme be this dumb but it was interesting and actually had me wanting to keep reading. I definitely enjoyed where the author took the ending, I didn't see that coming and made it worth the slow pace moments.