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Sally is a strange woman who opens the book by incinerating her father after misinterpreting a joke he made about putting him out with the rubbish when he dies. This sets the tone for Sallys character; not trusting of her own judgement around others because she has been so terribly socialised by her adoptive parents and has experienced a horrific childhood trauma that she cannot remember. This book is dual POV so we also hear from Peter/Steven, the brother Sally doesn’t know she has.
The way this book starts, you would think you’re in for a book about an odd woman learning how to make friends with a small, lighthearted personal mystery thrown in. What you actually get is a story so horrific, you scarcely believe that someone could dream it up.
It was incredibly difficult to read through the Denise Norton and Lindy scenes to the point where I had to put the book down and stop reading for the night. What was even more difficult was seeing how the author chose to end this book.
This is far too bleak of a read for me. The victims in this book are little girls who never get any type of justice for the horrific abuse they have suffered. The author put shock value over story sense, which was very frustrating. Towards the end, the story loses steam and it felt like it could have had another edit. The commitment to evil winning and any progress Sally had made being eroded, therefore bringing her ‘full circle’ was a terrible choice. It was like the new life I’d read about her having might as well not have happened at all.
Similarly, the character of Peter [SPOILER] was shown to have inherited the same evil as his father. None of the characters experienced any growth, despite the story edging toward that. The most evil character in the book, the originator of everyone’s suffering, was never brought to justice and succeeded in ruining innocent people’s lives, plus his death wasn’t gruesome enough for the type of evil he was, which was frustrating to read.
The symbolism of Toby the bear was heavy handed. It made sense for Sally and Peter to have an attachment to him, but why did [SPOILER] Steven’s daughter Amanda find comfort in it? It wasn’t mentioned that she’d ever even seen it before?
Amanda’s blasé attitude to the beyond sad story of her conception was also weird. She just had NO interest in the past at all? She was just happy to let her father, who had kidnapped her mother and held her captive for years of her life roam free as long as she could play the piano?
Upon finishing this book, I was immediately reminded of Jordan Peele’s story about how the ending to ‘Get Out’ was originally way more bleak, but after testing it with audiences, he realised it wasn’t fair to them and the movie is actually better for it. Not every story is going to have a happy ending, but this story had an ending that wasn’t fair to the victims of the abuse suffered in the book, or the readers. Even real life crime events close to what happened in the book see the abusers being bought to justice. This book was a lot of shock and not a lot of value.
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Abandonment
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Kidnapping, Pregnancy
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Pregnancy