Reviews

What in hell did I just read? I feel like I just swam up out of the lake of this book, but that's neither a good or a bad thing. Compelling until about 3/4ths of the way through then it begins to feel tedious and somehow rushed at the same time, as if we're rushing towards the conclusions but missing clues along the way. Somehow it ceases being a mystery the reader can help solve and just arrives at the end.

mary_ds's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

3.75

samanthawade92's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

I had some mixed feelings about this book but the last 150 pages really sealed the deal for me. I found the start to be intriguing but most of the book felt a bit slow for me, I wanted more to be happening and it felt like so many pages were laying groundwork or setting the stage. I will say I had in mind to give it 3-3.5 star until the last 150 pages or so. The pace really picked up and lots of pieces started to fall into place and I found it hard to put down. I really enjoyed all of the plot twists at the end as well. You really had to pay attention (I found it difficult to just listen to the audiobook bc of this) to really absorb all of the twists and characters.

I never thought of Blackheath as a prison until it was explained. Definitely an interesting premise from that standpoint. I was definitely surprised by some of the plot twists. Like Evelyn not being herself but instead being disguised as the maid with an actress she hired playing the “real Evelyn” - that shocked me. Also, the fact that she killed her brother and that all of the children were Culver’s children instead of Peter Hardcastle’s children. I thought it was definitely interesting at the end when it kind of ended up being Evelyn (hired actress) that killed Evelyn.

I was a little disappointed that we didn’t ever learn what Anna really did to end up in Blackheath (other than killing Aiden’s sister) and that we never found out what Daniel did. If this was such a secure prison bc Anna and Daniel’s crimes were so bad, I’d have loved to have know what they did.

I was happy to see the Plague Doctor helping them; definitely interesting to see him go from apparent adversary to supporter.

Overall I feel like the author created a great moody setting for the story and tied almost everything up very nicely. Definitely an interesting read!

biojesspj's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

Content Warnings

gdsunshine's review against another edition

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2.0

Rather pointless tbh.

jesslojo's review against another edition

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2.0

Ugh. I really wanted to like this book. It’s been on my shelf for such a long time and it’s been an anticipated read of mine for longer. It was just all over the place it had an interesting concept but I found myself getting lost way too often and not wanting to pick this book up and read it. Super unique plot though.

donnaehm's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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