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melowdee's review against another edition
3.0
More of a 3.5 Enjoyable fast read. Liked were in went.
dommasc's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this one quite a bit, read it in just two sittings because this book keeps its foot on the gas for the entirety of its short page count. It’s brevity is a big strength for me but also a weakness, I think I would’ve liked this more if certain sections had some more space to breathe, things happen at a breakneck pace with our main character barely reacting which in turn doesn’t give the reader time to react. It works for what the author I believe is going for but I will say the book could’ve maybe used another 50 or so pages to flesh some things out. I get why so many reviews here hate the ending but after thinking on it for a bit I do like it, it leaves a few too many questions unanswered but it serviced the story well. 3.5/5
breeburkitt's review against another edition
3.0
My feelings for “Antioch” varied widely during the course of this novel.
The book follows Bess, an isolated bookseller and shortwave radio hobb. She quickly finds herself swallowed into the hunt for a serial killer in the small town of Antioch after hearing an unsettling broadcast on her radio. Bess becomes obsessed with trying to solve the killings and find a missing girl before she becomes the next victim.
The premise of “Antioch” is intriguing and the book really is. The first half of the book is unsettling and fast-paced. Author Jessica Leonard manages to weave in a slew of different characters, background and theories smoothly, leading to what should be a smooth and clever reveal.
But that never comes. Instead, the ending comes suddenly and unexpectedly. As I approached the final pages, I kept finding myself wondering how the story could possibly wrap up before the book’s end and I was disappointed to find it never did so. The ending is abrupt and left me feeling like I must have missed something. Too many threads that were expertly laid out were left without any sort of resolution. It felt like a disservice to what Leonard had done so masterfully earlier in the novel.
Despite this, I did enjoy “Antioch.” The build-up is well worth the subpar ending. I’m looking forward to reading more from Leonard in the future.
The book follows Bess, an isolated bookseller and shortwave radio hobb. She quickly finds herself swallowed into the hunt for a serial killer in the small town of Antioch after hearing an unsettling broadcast on her radio. Bess becomes obsessed with trying to solve the killings and find a missing girl before she becomes the next victim.
The premise of “Antioch” is intriguing and the book really is. The first half of the book is unsettling and fast-paced. Author Jessica Leonard manages to weave in a slew of different characters, background and theories smoothly, leading to what should be a smooth and clever reveal.
But that never comes. Instead, the ending comes suddenly and unexpectedly. As I approached the final pages, I kept finding myself wondering how the story could possibly wrap up before the book’s end and I was disappointed to find it never did so. The ending is abrupt and left me feeling like I must have missed something. Too many threads that were expertly laid out were left without any sort of resolution. It felt like a disservice to what Leonard had done so masterfully earlier in the novel.
Despite this, I did enjoy “Antioch.” The build-up is well worth the subpar ending. I’m looking forward to reading more from Leonard in the future.
erinxmegan's review against another edition
5.0
*actual rating is 4.5*
Antioch has a murderer running rampant, he’s dubbed Vlad the Impaler. Six women have been brutally murdered and there’s no real lead to who it could be.
By day Bess works at a bookstore, and by night she’s on a shortwave radio and looking into Amelia Earhart conspiracy theories.
One night Bess picks up a very odd transmission through the radio. She’s convinced that what she picked up is proof that the murderer has a 7th victim and if something isn’t done, then they’ll end up just like the rest.
Fun fact about me: I used to be obsessed with Amelia Earhart. I had to do a project on her in middle school and I was fascinated. I think that’s what grabbed me in the beginning about this book. A main character who had an obsession that I always randomly had? Sign me up.
The premise of the book is something that I find interesting, a regular person playing detective and trying to solve a case or stop the murderer before they kill again.
It’s suspenseful, it’s a race against the clock. Will they be able to save the person? Will the murderer figure it out and try to kill them?
I thought I knew how the book was going to play out based on that premise alone. Boy was I wrong.
I was confused the whole time.
The. Whole. Time.
First, Bess is a highly unreliable character. She drinks quite a bit, she loses days-thinks it’s Monday, when it is fact Wednesday. Her reactions are sometimes alarming, she seems unfazed by something that should be very unnerving.
Those are just some of the things, but there is a lot that makes Bess super unreliable in my opinion.
I even think someone could say that her fascination with Amelia Earhart conspiracies could be detrimental to her reliability.
In fact, every character in this book is highly suspicious. At one point I could see each of them being responsible for the murders. I didn’t know who had good intentions and who didn’t.
The paranoia from this book, omg.
Which leads me into my next point, the questions. I have so many freaking questions.
The book doesn’t answer anything, nothing, zero, nada, zilch. Unless, I am just not connecting the dots, which could totally happen.
The ending was sooooooo abrupt, I was devastated. It felt like it had just hit the climax and then poof, over.
I read the last sentence about 20 times before I accepted that it was truly over. I also read it that many times hoping something would reveal itself to me and give me some type of answer.
Like I said I have so many questions. I don’t know anything.
Now, I do think there are several conclusions one could come to from the ending. But that just doesn’t fly with me, I need something concrete to grab onto and while I think some people could create an ending, I don’t know what I think.
This books captivated the crap out of me and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it, minus the ending.
The loose strings are very annoying, but I don’t know there was just something about it that made me love it.
Antioch has a murderer running rampant, he’s dubbed Vlad the Impaler. Six women have been brutally murdered and there’s no real lead to who it could be.
By day Bess works at a bookstore, and by night she’s on a shortwave radio and looking into Amelia Earhart conspiracy theories.
One night Bess picks up a very odd transmission through the radio. She’s convinced that what she picked up is proof that the murderer has a 7th victim and if something isn’t done, then they’ll end up just like the rest.
Fun fact about me: I used to be obsessed with Amelia Earhart. I had to do a project on her in middle school and I was fascinated. I think that’s what grabbed me in the beginning about this book. A main character who had an obsession that I always randomly had? Sign me up.
The premise of the book is something that I find interesting, a regular person playing detective and trying to solve a case or stop the murderer before they kill again.
It’s suspenseful, it’s a race against the clock. Will they be able to save the person? Will the murderer figure it out and try to kill them?
I thought I knew how the book was going to play out based on that premise alone. Boy was I wrong.
I was confused the whole time.
The. Whole. Time.
First, Bess is a highly unreliable character. She drinks quite a bit, she loses days-thinks it’s Monday, when it is fact Wednesday. Her reactions are sometimes alarming, she seems unfazed by something that should be very unnerving.
Those are just some of the things, but there is a lot that makes Bess super unreliable in my opinion.
I even think someone could say that her fascination with Amelia Earhart conspiracies could be detrimental to her reliability.
In fact, every character in this book is highly suspicious. At one point I could see each of them being responsible for the murders. I didn’t know who had good intentions and who didn’t.
The paranoia from this book, omg.
Which leads me into my next point, the questions. I have so many freaking questions.
The book doesn’t answer anything, nothing, zero, nada, zilch. Unless, I am just not connecting the dots, which could totally happen.
The ending was sooooooo abrupt, I was devastated. It felt like it had just hit the climax and then poof, over.
I read the last sentence about 20 times before I accepted that it was truly over. I also read it that many times hoping something would reveal itself to me and give me some type of answer.
Like I said I have so many questions. I don’t know anything.
Now, I do think there are several conclusions one could come to from the ending. But that just doesn’t fly with me, I need something concrete to grab onto and while I think some people could create an ending, I don’t know what I think.
This books captivated the crap out of me and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it, minus the ending.
The loose strings are very annoying, but I don’t know there was just something about it that made me love it.
lag117's review against another edition
2.0
The writing was clunky and the plot points didn’t make sense.
rachellemarie's review against another edition
4.0
"Bess thought nothing bad could ever happen in Antioch. It was too small, too isolated from all the chaos of the rest of the world. But someone was trying to prove that a small town could hold just as much evil as any other."
This is a twisty paranoia fueled ride. Great debut from Jessica Leonard, excited to see what she comes up with next!
This is a twisty paranoia fueled ride. Great debut from Jessica Leonard, excited to see what she comes up with next!
nicktionary19's review against another edition
4.0
If I’m being honest, i think a lot of yas will say 4 stars is too many. And maybe I won’t disagree. But I’ve read some shitty books over the years. And this - even with its faults - isn’t shitty.
I probably would have read this in a single sitting if I wasn’t having fucking migraines every goddamned day. It’s a short book. Antioch is about 200 pages. I was fully engaged throughout. There’s a good twist at the end. I started to sense the twist at some point and from then on kept denying it. Fun reading the reviews from folks who didn’t even know a twist had happened. They’re mad.
I’m gonna list some negatives here. It might look like a lot, but remember - I was happily engaged throughout*
*there is one chapter in the middle that changes narrator. It’s in second person. I don’t generally enjoy 2p storytelling. It almost felt (in hindsight) tacked on to provide a little gore and a big red herring.
The main character, Bess, is minimally developed. No other characters enjoy this luxury. Bess is standoffish and manic, so it makes sense for a story from her perspective to have a pretty basic cast. If she hasn’t bothered to know/understand them, she - the narrator - can only describe them.
There are a couple unfortunate editorial misses. And the entire book feels like it needed some tightening. This book is already better than Gone Girl and that shit sold like eggs.
More than anything this book is a mystery. In that vein it functions as it should. Clues/twists happen appropriately. Some elements are extremely subtle - to the point i may reread just to see if I remember what I think I remember.
There are elements that remind me of Alex North’s Whisper Man - another mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed, but found frustrating at the last/in hindsight.
Again, 4 generous stars to 5 star concept with 5 star prose and 3.5 star execution.
I probably would have read this in a single sitting if I wasn’t having fucking migraines every goddamned day. It’s a short book. Antioch is about 200 pages. I was fully engaged throughout. There’s a good twist at the end. I started to sense the twist at some point and from then on kept denying it. Fun reading the reviews from folks who didn’t even know a twist had happened. They’re mad.
I’m gonna list some negatives here. It might look like a lot, but remember - I was happily engaged throughout*
*there is one chapter in the middle that changes narrator. It’s in second person. I don’t generally enjoy 2p storytelling. It almost felt (in hindsight) tacked on to provide a little gore and a big red herring.
The main character, Bess, is minimally developed. No other characters enjoy this luxury. Bess is standoffish and manic, so it makes sense for a story from her perspective to have a pretty basic cast. If she hasn’t bothered to know/understand them, she - the narrator - can only describe them.
There are a couple unfortunate editorial misses. And the entire book feels like it needed some tightening. This book is already better than Gone Girl and that shit sold like eggs.
More than anything this book is a mystery. In that vein it functions as it should. Clues/twists happen appropriately. Some elements are extremely subtle - to the point i may reread just to see if I remember what I think I remember.
There are elements that remind me of Alex North’s Whisper Man - another mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed, but found frustrating at the last/in hindsight.
Again, 4 generous stars to 5 star concept with 5 star prose and 3.5 star execution.
the_clavicule_of_ac's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 ⭐️
After letting this book digest for a few days, and having a book club discussion, I bumped my rating up to a 2.5. I'm still struggling with this review.
I felt this book started off so compelling. The MC, Bess, lives in a small town, where a serial killer is murdering women. Bess works in a book shop by day, and by night is obsessed with the disappearance of Emelia Earhart, and spends her time listening broadcasts on her shortwave radio, like those that may have broadcast Emelia's last message. Only one night she receives a message that sounds like it's from the serials killer's most recent victim. Bess decides to take it upon her self to do some detective work, and starts losing moments of time, receives threatening phone calls, phantom door bell rings, and this is where the story begins to lose me.
Bess is a super unreliable narrator. Is she an alcoholic? is she mentally unstable? Is she possessed? Who knows. Maybe a little of everything. But leaving so many questions and room for interpretation hindered my reading experience. I was left with too many questions and not enough answers. The massive editing errors (one man's name changes part of the way in to the book and then changes back) and inconsistent flow of the writing also lowered my rating.
I like the idea of not everything being what it seems, but overall the unclarity of the book just didn't do it for me.
After letting this book digest for a few days, and having a book club discussion, I bumped my rating up to a 2.5. I'm still struggling with this review.
I felt this book started off so compelling. The MC, Bess, lives in a small town, where a serial killer is murdering women. Bess works in a book shop by day, and by night is obsessed with the disappearance of Emelia Earhart, and spends her time listening broadcasts on her shortwave radio, like those that may have broadcast Emelia's last message. Only one night she receives a message that sounds like it's from the serials killer's most recent victim. Bess decides to take it upon her self to do some detective work, and starts losing moments of time, receives threatening phone calls, phantom door bell rings, and this is where the story begins to lose me.
Bess is a super unreliable narrator. Is she an alcoholic? is she mentally unstable? Is she possessed? Who knows. Maybe a little of everything. But leaving so many questions and room for interpretation hindered my reading experience. I was left with too many questions and not enough answers. The massive editing errors (one man's name changes part of the way in to the book and then changes back) and inconsistent flow of the writing also lowered my rating.
I like the idea of not everything being what it seems, but overall the unclarity of the book just didn't do it for me.