Scan barcode
tifftastic87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Naomi, Liv and Cass have been friends since they were five and Cass decided they would all be friends. The summer when they were all eleven everything changed with Naomi near fatally stabbed and her and her friends putting away the serial killer that did it. The story jumps forward to Naomi, now 33, still dealing with her trauma and returning to her home town and her friends. We unpeel the layers slowly and go back in time to relive that summer and experience what really happened through Naomi's eyes. Small town drama, PTSD, and lies stacking on lies shape the tale we experience.
Without spoilers this was the most twists in a book I have experienced in a while. I thought I knew what was happening and then I thought I was wrong and then I thought I was right again and then it turned out I was half right. I hit a point where I would have died or killed for Naomi. The story was constantly moving to the next plot point but still giving us a full feel of the characters involved. It was a perfect balance that I really enjoyed.
Trauma and PTSD were handled really well and with care. I appreciated how themes were discussed in a way that wasn't self-indulgent or just straight up trauma porn, actually Marshall seemed to call out authors who are solely focused on that through the use of Naomi's boyfriend in the beginning. We get this sentence, among others about him, that allowed me to instantly know who he was.
The trouble was he’d mistaken drama for virtue and suffering for art, and felt impoverished by his own good fortune.
He, Mitch, spends his spare time writing stories using Naomi's trauma as the center of the story. He is convinced she needs to use her trauma to sell her art instead of photographing weddings and this results in some pretty heated arguments. She says he was an asshole, she knew he was an asshole and so did he. But she was only comfortable dating assholes, someone she could never attach to - been there girl. But when she goes home to gather her things in the middle of the book there is a scene that reveals his true nature, and some of hers.
What the hell just happened? I should have just fucked him so he could feel like he was helping.
When she doesn't allow him to sleep with her, he kind of loses it and kicks her out. After he promised her he wouldn't try anything. So, he's also that kind of asshole. One of the best parts, for me, was her overcoming these choices. She never shies away from it being why she does it:
Every man I’d slept with had been a mistake of one kind or another. The mistake was the point. You couldn’t let someone in without it breaking you, but you could choose the way you broke.
But she seems finally ready to move on from that. It just kind of made the story for me. We got so much of the character development inside this twisted story where you never know who is good and who is bad and the main character herself is morally gray and unreliable.
Hard recommend, but check the content warnings first.
Some more thoughts on little girls being absolutely feral forest goblins: https://youtu.be/AMY_324xjfQ?si=d5ABP_BHxWypgJOs
Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Death, Self harm, Violence, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Stalking, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Blood, Classism, Gore, and Gun violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Bullying, Medical trauma, and Sexual content
Minor: Rape, Biphobia, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Vomit, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Drug use
chasingpages1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Violence, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Murder, Suicide attempt, Grief, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Addiction, Biphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Stalking
cheye13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I tend not to like thrillers. They usually either rely on nonsensical shock value twists or broadcast their twists through foreshadowing and result in a 'what's the point?' reading experience for me.
Then there are thrillers like this, which build a whole story with full characters, that let you see things coming but maintain tension, that have you gasping when you figure it out a few pages before the reveal but still anxious to see how things will play out.
I do think the synopsis is a little misleading; the situation is a bit more complex than the three girls share the secret that they lied about the attacker. Reading that, I had assumed they were all aware of the same sequence of events during the attack, and were all harboring the same secret. It's a bit more nuanced than that, and questions I expected to be answered quite quickly stretched out a bit. However, the structure of the book and the sequence of events makes for a much more compelling read than I had expected. The thriller girlies are right about this one.
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, and Gun violence
Moderate: Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Mental illness
Minor: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Medical content
detailed description of an adult groping an 11yo; discussion of repeated sexual relations that began when the girl was underage, vehemently denied as a "relationship"; discussion of a neglectful alcoholic father; human remains involved in chilren's play; heavy involvement of an unnamed mental illness implied to be OCD, including intense delusions; sex as self harm; stalking resulting in physical assault; a brief image and implication of death by drowning; discovery of a recentlly dead bodyedgaranjapoe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Death, Blood, Mental illness, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Minor: Child abuse, Abandonment, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Sexism, Death of parent, Cursing, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt