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3.09 AVERAGE
3.09 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a somewhat frustrating book. I found the main character less well-rounded than I wanted and almost every character hard to understand. Some interesting plot twists 90% of the way through the book but overall I can't really recommend it.
3.5 stars. Can we just start by saying this book probably wins best cover of the year - it is stunning. I really loved the plot line of this book - the main character is obsessed with a true crime podcast and goes to a very isolated location to try and track the podcaster down when she stops posting. But, she is sucked in to a small down dynamics and family problems with people as lost as she is. I was really in to the weirdness and trying to figure out who is good and who did it, but when it came to the climax of the novel, it felt super rushed and quite murky. Then, the ending was a little frustrating because it certainly left a cliffhanger.
Meh.
I wish this had been better edited, because the writing gets way too repetitive.
Also I guessed the plot pretty early on which is always disappointing.
2.5 stars
I wish this had been better edited, because the writing gets way too repetitive.
Also I guessed the plot pretty early on which is always disappointing.
2.5 stars
This book was absolutely bizarre. I was SO interested in the premise, but the second person dialogue mixed with the short, stilted writing style really didn't work for me. And not that I necessarily think we were supposed to like the narrator, but I found her to be extremely unlikeable and it kept me from caring at all about anything that happened. This book just unfortunately was not for me. Womp.
CW: death of an animal
CW: death of an animal
Sera needs to find Rachel because she is the only one that can. Rachel hosts a missing person podcast and Sera is obsessed. Brazier takes the traditional mystery genre and transforms it into something new and disturbing. The second person narrative brought a different feel to the book and made Sear seem off center. This added to the depth of Sera's character but it seemed to stop there. Over the course of the book the reader does learn more about her past but it felt very shallow and did not add to the content or character of her. For most of the book, Sear seemed detached while obsessing over a woman she did not even know, all because she thought she had disappeared. Rachel's podcast did make appearances throughout the book but they were in segments and didn't really give enough to fully textualize what the podcast was like. I would have enjoyed hearing at least a couple of episodes to know how Rachel saw the world and the people in it. The plot felt unsteady, in places fast then slowing down to a weird transitional pace. Giving the reader a sense of urgency that may propel them to read more or wonder what the heck is going on. Over all the book was sort of enjoyable, readers will walk away with a shock at the end but was the journey worth the ending.... it may not have been
An ARC was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
An ARC was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
I was disappointed in this book. I’m a huge true crime junkie, and so is the main character, but it ends up she’s too nuts for my taste. She makes terrible decisions as she tries to solve the mystery of the missing podcaster. As an added bonus, the ending is not clear and I’m annoyed by that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Major TW for animal cruelty. If you have a cherished pet, you may find this book hard to read like I did.
I’m a true crime fan, so obviously I’m down for some gruesome details, but If I Disappear was genuinely gross to me at times. And Sera was an idiot. The concept of just dropping her (yes, pretty terrible) life to go find her favorite podcaster who’s “gone missing” was ridiculous. I couldn’t connect with her obsession at all and for someone soooo into true crime, her investigative skills were embarrassing.
The Ranch was creepy. The town was creepy. The people were creepy. It was just all a no. I only “finished” (with lots of skimming) cause I wanted to get it off my TBR shelf and pass it on to a free little library for someone who can hopefully enjoy it far more that I did.
The ending is eye-roll unbelievable and rushed.
One star for the chapter intros that were podcast excerpts.
Note: a friends recommended this to me after listening to the audio… maybe that would have been a better option.
I’m a true crime fan, so obviously I’m down for some gruesome details, but If I Disappear was genuinely gross to me at times. And Sera was an idiot. The concept of just dropping her (yes, pretty terrible) life to go find her favorite podcaster who’s “gone missing” was ridiculous. I couldn’t connect with her obsession at all and for someone soooo into true crime, her investigative skills were embarrassing.
The Ranch was creepy. The town was creepy. The people were creepy. It was just all a no. I only “finished” (with lots of skimming) cause I wanted to get it off my TBR shelf and pass it on to a free little library for someone who can hopefully enjoy it far more that I did.
The ending is eye-roll unbelievable and rushed.
One star for the chapter intros that were podcast excerpts.
Note: a friends recommended this to me after listening to the audio… maybe that would have been a better option.
totally not expecting that ending, i’m equally frustrated and okay with the fact that we still don’t really know what happened.