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piratebar's review
2.0
DNF @ 62%
I could not get into this one at all. I just didn't care about the story, the characters, the setting. Everyone has nicknames and I got a few characters confused. It wasn't doing anything for me.
I could not get into this one at all. I just didn't care about the story, the characters, the setting. Everyone has nicknames and I got a few characters confused. It wasn't doing anything for me.
storiesandstacks's review
3.0
Three campfire secrets. Two witnesses. One dead in the trees. And the woman, thirty years later, bent on making the guilty finally pay.
In 1988 a group of outcasts gather at a prestigious arts camp in the Maine woods. There are dark secrets from those days. Now, 2018, Max Durant is an esteemed art professor. He has been invited to his student's home, a privilege given she doesn't let anyone in. But as the story goes on, it is clear his student, Audra, has other motivations and a mystery unfolds. While I started to enjoy this one, the now and then, going back to 2018 didn't really work for me. The 2018 timeline felt drawn out and I lost interest in parts as I couldn't easily place the connection. This is probably more about me than the novel and perhaps poor timing, as the book has some wonderful reviews.
Thanks to Netgalley for this advance review copy.
In 1988 a group of outcasts gather at a prestigious arts camp in the Maine woods. There are dark secrets from those days. Now, 2018, Max Durant is an esteemed art professor. He has been invited to his student's home, a privilege given she doesn't let anyone in. But as the story goes on, it is clear his student, Audra, has other motivations and a mystery unfolds. While I started to enjoy this one, the now and then, going back to 2018 didn't really work for me. The 2018 timeline felt drawn out and I lost interest in parts as I couldn't easily place the connection. This is probably more about me than the novel and perhaps poor timing, as the book has some wonderful reviews.
Thanks to Netgalley for this advance review copy.
akarently's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
2.75
I would've enjoyed and rated higher if it was much shorter. It could have been much more concise. That much time wasn't needed to build everything.
sagicarrius's review
2.0
This may have been the first book I’ve read (in my recent memory at least) that isn’t a who-done-it but a why-done-it and I’m not sure I’ve enjoyed this experience. For one, I think because I knew what was going to happen (only one “twist” caught me off guard), just not why, it made the pace of the book feel very slow. I felt so tempted to just skip to the end just to be sure my guesses were correct. Secondly, I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, which I’m assuming you aren’t really meant to but it made it hard for me to feel invested in the book because honestly, I didn’t care about anyone. Lastly, while what Max (and Marcus) did was atrocious and vile, I feel like Juniper could have been the worst out of all of them. SHE KNEW!!!! She KNEW what happened, she even saw the slow descent of Coral and DID nothing. And not only did she keep this secret she continued to stay friends with Max?! To give him a fucking job?!! And even at the end, she still thinks of him in her head as “my dearest friend”…. WHAT. THE. FUCK. It was disgusting and honestly I can’t believe that Audra hadn’t targeted her too, I was kind of rooting for her demise as well.
a_marie444's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Self harm and Murder
pfriesen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
eviesellers's review
3.0
3.5 stars; this book took a while to hit its stride in terms of plot and character development, but once it did it was very well done. i guessed the largest of the plot twists but still thought it was well done, and some of the smaller twists were genuinely ones that i hadn't seen coming. one of my main issues was max as a character; his motivations were never entirely clear (lust? art? both?) and there's only so far you can take the tortured artist/intense perfectionist trope before it becomes a cliche.
acmayn01's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal death