Reviews with content warning for Grief - Cordialmente, Perfido

“You have to take things as they are, not how you hear they're supposed to be.”

“When you have enough power and money, you can dictate the meanings of words.”

“There is nothing so serious as a game.”

This was a really fun mystery. I really enjoyed Stevie as a main character. She was funny and relatable and that made the story compelling. I loved the setting. The school was really well written and described. However, I found myself more intrigued by the 1936 timeline. The major mystery in the present day timeline got pretty juicy near the end but suffered from all the time spent introducing the secondary characters and setting for the first 200 pages or so. I appreciated having a large pool of suspects and minor characters but the first half of the book definitely felt like set ups for the rest of the series. I'm not really sure how that could have been rectified but I was drawn in enough to want to read the rest of the series, for sure.

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The first thing I will say about this one is that it had really, really weird pacing. The best way to describe it is that it felt like one big set-up for the next book, as nothing was really solved or fully investigated. That being said, I really enjoyed reading this. It had so many of my favourite elements: secret tunnels, an isolated boarding school, hidden spaces, and a cold case. Also, Johnson described what Stevie was thinking and feeling really well, so that she felt like an actual person. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

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bookishgoob's review against another edition

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dark emotional lighthearted mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

the beginning half was incredibly slow and i hated it until i realized that there was several books in this series and then it made sense. the atmosphere was being built. this book is a nice dark academia read. i’m starting the second book now. the main character stevie is a little annoying and a little “not like other girls” which annoys me in books. also her obsession with true crime makes me gag. i hope she learns soon that true crime involves real people and that even though she knows a lot about police proceedings doesn’t mean it’s going to be like her podcasts. i like the building relationship between her and david.

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