3.95 AVERAGE

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
mysterious sad tense medium-paced
mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No

I enjoyed most of this book but the resolution was pretty deeply unsatisfying and left a lot of loose ends—any thriller/mystery that's any good will employ red herrings, but most of the red herrings at play here seem very forced in retrospect. Beyond that, the over-explanation at the end was at a certain point kind of silly. I'm all for making it clear what happened but it was made clear a few times over and then the characters internal-monologued their justifications on top of that.

I'm trying not to just give everything a 3 simply because I still mostly enjoyed it. So, this gets 2.5.
dark tense medium-paced
dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
fast-paced

I love me a Lapena book. Her books are like. Gateway into mystery books. I never knew I liked them (good ones) until I picked up one of her books. 

Bryden, working from home on a regular day, said goodbye to her husband and dropped off her daughter to daycare. Neither the husband or daughter saw her again. Her home is turned into a crime scene and her husband is just trying to keep it together. Bryden’s family and best friend start to press the investigators to push harder as the sister seems to think she might still be in the building. What starts as a man hunt quickly turns into a homicide investigation.