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klb77's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
“He may not be a good husband but he’ll always be a good father” HE RAPED A MINOR. HE HAD INAPPROPRIATE SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH. A. MINOR. fuck spoilers y’all need to understand this book justifies and accepts pedophilia wholeheartedly
He also uses the existence of the child he sexually abused to emotionally manipulate and trap his wife and turn his own child’s life upside down. Not only does he abuse a child he uses that abuse to then abuse others. OH! and likely was the reasonthat poor girl fucking died
BAD. THATS BAD.
Graphic depictions of self harm and suicidal ideation as well as constant musings and fantasies of domestic abuse.
The twists and turns were boring and easy to guess. The children and dialogue overall were unrealistic and you could tell what sentences the author threw a thesaurus at compared to the rest of her simple writing. The motivations and plans of the main character make no fucking sense.
No justice being served for the sexually abused minor AND the murders in this book is fucking despicable. That fucking sucks.
“Rice crepes” and other moments of culture sanitizing and whitewashing were super weird and felt juvenile. It didn’t even feel like pandering to a wider audience it just felt sanitized and reductionary.
There was no character development.
The storm and the timeline felt DEEPLY unrealistic.
Also why was the fmc GENUINELY so stupid she confused a labelled and capped epi-pen for “drug needles”. bitch it’s an epi-pen. you were told they were in the house. it’s labelled.
Petty but 3 separate instances of characters comparing themselves to theoretical movie characters is lazy writing and unacceptable in my eyes. Find a way to describe your characters other than identifying them as characters in a situation. We, the readers, performing the act of reading your book, do understand that your characters are characters.
Blogs don’t “go VIRAL viral”. it’s 2024.
This was a waste of 4 hours and makes me want to go shower off it’s filth.
He also uses the existence of the child he sexually abused to emotionally manipulate and trap his wife and turn his own child’s life upside down. Not only does he abuse a child he uses that abuse to then abuse others. OH! and likely was the reason
BAD. THATS BAD.
Graphic depictions of self harm and suicidal ideation as well as constant musings and fantasies of domestic abuse.
The twists and turns were boring and easy to guess. The children and dialogue overall were unrealistic and you could tell what sentences the author threw a thesaurus at compared to the rest of her simple writing. The motivations and plans of the main character make no fucking sense.
No justice being served for the sexually abused minor AND the murders in this book is fucking despicable. That fucking sucks.
“Rice crepes” and other moments of culture sanitizing and whitewashing were super weird and felt juvenile. It didn’t even feel like pandering to a wider audience it just felt sanitized and reductionary.
There was no character development.
The storm and the timeline felt DEEPLY unrealistic.
Also why was the fmc GENUINELY so stupid she confused a labelled and capped epi-pen for “drug needles”. bitch it’s an epi-pen. you were told they were in the house. it’s labelled.
Petty but 3 separate instances of characters comparing themselves to theoretical movie characters is lazy writing and unacceptable in my eyes. Find a way to describe your characters other than identifying them as characters in a situation. We, the readers, performing the act of reading your book, do understand that your characters are characters.
Blogs don’t “go VIRAL viral”. it’s 2024.
This was a waste of 4 hours and makes me want to go shower off it’s filth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Vomit, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infertility, Physical abuse, Self harm, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Rape, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Stalking, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Sexism
genuinely fuck thismusingsbynitika's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Not my cup of tea. I hate giving bad reviews, I truly do. Maybe my hopes were too high for a thriller about an Indian migrant family by an Indian author. Maybe I've read too many brilliant thrillers to be thrilled or satisfied by this poorly-executed one. Maybe I need to learn how to commit to DNF books. If a slow burn thriller is your thing, then maybe you'll love it?
I put this down way too many times for a thriller. I was really rooting for it to get better, or have a big satisfying twist. But sadly, I was disappointed. I didn't connect with the characters and despised the poor parenting. The ending makes no sense to anyone with TV-level knowledge of the legal system, and I'm a lawyer so...
And I just can't forgive 2 things:
1. Minimising / forgiving paedophilia??? the MC'S ex husband literally preyed on the teenage girl who she was a second mother to and then towards the end, she was thanking him and saying he can still be a good father even if he's not a good husband??? Sorry??
2. Some of the bizarre and upsetting South Asian representation like calling dosa "rice crepe" without using the correct word AT ALL or correct ingredients (it's not just rice) or explaining anything correctly about one of my favourite foods.
P.S. I'm Indian
I put this down way too many times for a thriller. I was really rooting for it to get better, or have a big satisfying twist. But sadly, I was disappointed. I didn't connect with the characters and despised the poor parenting. The ending makes no sense to anyone with TV-level knowledge of the legal system, and I'm a lawyer so...
And I just can't forgive 2 things:
1. Minimising / forgiving paedophilia???
2. Some of the bizarre and upsetting South Asian representation like calling dosa "rice crepe" without using the correct word AT ALL or correct ingredients (it's not just rice) or explaining anything correctly about one of my favourite foods.
P.S. I'm Indian
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and Pedophilia
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
While trapped in her sister's house during Hurricane Harvey, Jia is trapped with her family and a killer.
I enjoyed the twist at the very end. I figured out who one of the killers was, but not the other one. I found it easy to figure out some of the twists, about half, but the other half just came out of nowhere.
Other than Ishaan and Vipul’s brother, I don't want to spell his name wrong, none of the characters were likable. I even found Jia annoying. I think some other POVs might have made other characters more likable. But it would have made it too easy to figure out the killers. Seema especially was just awful!
Narrator Rating: 4.5 stars
The narrator did an excellent job. I wish there had been more tonal shifts as other characters talked.
Elemental Levels: Fluff-NA Heartfelt-4/5 Helpful-NA Horror-1/5 Inspiration-NA
Love aka Romance-NA Mystery-2.5/5 Predictability-2.5/5 Spice-0.5/5 Suspense-4/5 Tear- 1.5/5 Thrill-4.5/5 Humor-0.5/5
I enjoyed the twist at the very end. I figured out who one of the killers was, but not the other one. I found it easy to figure out some of the twists, about half, but the other half just came out of nowhere.
Other than Ishaan and Vipul’s brother, I don't want to spell his name wrong, none of the characters were likable. I even found Jia annoying. I think some other POVs might have made other characters more likable. But it would have made it too easy to figure out the killers. Seema especially was just awful!
Narrator Rating: 4.5 stars
The narrator did an excellent job. I wish there had been more tonal shifts as other characters talked.
Elemental Levels: Fluff-NA Heartfelt-4/5 Helpful-NA Horror-1/5 Inspiration-NA
Love aka Romance-NA Mystery-2.5/5 Predictability-2.5/5 Spice-0.5/5 Suspense-4/5 Tear- 1.5/5 Thrill-4.5/5 Humor-0.5/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Sexism, Body horror, Death, Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Racism, Cursing, Infertility, and Vomit
Minor: Racial slurs and Car accident
booksbytheglass's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
what a fabulous debut thriller to start off 2024!! I was a little nervous going into this one after reading all of the mediocre reviews, but I firmly enjoyed it!
I’m a super fan of the locked door thriller, so having this one set in the middle of a slowly flooding house in a hurricane was the perfect setting 😮💨 it set the tone for paranoia and claustrophobia very well
jia, the narrator, was not my favorite character as literally all of the family drama could have been solved with a single conversation … and her reasoning for “waiting until the right time” was solely because she was trying to minimize the fallback on herself more than anything
that being said, I really loved the drama of a multi-generational indian family!! the dynamics of each character were wonderfully written, that even if there were no thriller elements, I would have still enjoyed it
while the thriller plot played out predictably, I really did enjoy the journey!! if you’re into character focused mysteries, definitely give this one a go!
thank you to netgalley and penguin random house for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review ☺️
rating: 3.5 stars
wine pairing: sula rasa cabernet sauvignon
I’m a super fan of the locked door thriller, so having this one set in the middle of a slowly flooding house in a hurricane was the perfect setting 😮💨 it set the tone for paranoia and claustrophobia very well
jia, the narrator, was not my favorite character as literally all of the family drama could have been solved with a single conversation … and her reasoning for “waiting until the right time” was solely because she was trying to minimize the fallback on herself more than anything
that being said, I really loved the drama of a multi-generational indian family!! the dynamics of each character were wonderfully written, that even if there were no thriller elements, I would have still enjoyed it
while the thriller plot played out predictably, I really did enjoy the journey!! if you’re into character focused mysteries, definitely give this one a go!
thank you to netgalley and penguin random house for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review ☺️
rating: 3.5 stars
wine pairing: sula rasa cabernet sauvignon
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual harassment, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Infertility
morethanmylupus's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book sounded so, so good but it ended up being such a slog.
Parekh, like the MC, is clearly an Indian immigrant and that came though in how the MC spoke, thought, and behaved. I think this authenticity really helped make me feel more invested in the story. However, the rest of the story was frustrating and relied on unbelievable twists and behaviors. I struggled to understand why not only the MC but also most of the other characters did what they did. Moreover, while MC's ex husband was a jerk, I'm not sure her resultant actions were reasonable overall. Literally every single character made me cringe.
This was a disappointing debut and would have benefitted from further editing. However, I think Parekh has potential to write a really good thriller so I'll definitely be checking in to see what Parekh writes next.
A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
Parekh, like the MC, is clearly an Indian immigrant and that came though in how the MC spoke, thought, and behaved. I think this authenticity really helped make me feel more invested in the story. However, the rest of the story was frustrating and relied on unbelievable twists and behaviors. I struggled to understand why not only the MC but also most of the other characters did what they did. Moreover, while MC's ex husband was a jerk, I'm not sure her resultant actions were reasonable overall. Literally every single character made me cringe.
This was a disappointing debut and would have benefitted from further editing. However, I think Parekh has potential to write a really good thriller so I'll definitely be checking in to see what Parekh writes next.
A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexual harassment, and Infidelity
torturedreadersdept's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Murder, Infidelity, Racism, Misogyny, Vomit, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Gaslighting, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Infertility, Dysphoria, Cursing, and Cultural appropriation
trippyotter's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Gun violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Bullying, and Blood
Moderate: Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, and Infertility
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