Okay so I have a lot of religious trauma and I'm sure that made me dislike this more than perhaps I would have but frankly? This is abelist AF. The way so many mental health issues are handled? Nope. One part of the ending felt predictable and the other completely unrealistic. Also the main character felt really flat and beyond irritating. The pacing was really odd to, so slow and then way too fast and without explaining why things went the way they did.

Spoiler

If you are going to give me a cult you better give me a believable one, they don't just magically happen because the pastor is charming. That needed explaining far more, more fleshing out.

Content Warnings

secanno's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Content Warnings

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book grabbed me from the beginning and didn’t let me go! I liked the premise and found the book unsettling. The writing was atmospheric and eerie, with suspense slowly building throughout the book. I’m always a fan of stories about unsolved mysteries and abandoned towns!

As always, I love switching POVs and timelines. The alternating timelines added to the suspense of the story. We see the present day as filmmakers go to the old mining town to make a documentary about the murder of a woman and disappearance of nearly 900 residents from the 1950s. The other timeline takes place during 1959, revealing the events that led up to the murder and disappearance.

I also liked the characters. They were complex and well developed, even the supporting characters! The plot twists usually caught me off guard and a couple I was able to guess. But the ones I guessed were the only logical solution as things became revealed so I wouldn’t call them predictable or cliche.

There are one or two things that were left open ended and wish would’ve been addressed more. But I can’t say more without spoiling it 😅

The only other thing I didn’t like was the way mental illness is handled; it wasn’t great and was fairly problematic. The author uses the character’s misunderstanding of mental illness as a plot device. I don’t want to go more into it and give away any spoilers but there were several statements that just didn’t sit well for me. This made me drop a star from the overall rating.

It’s a perfect spooky season read given the concept and suspense. I’d recommend if you enjoy ghost stories or unsolved mysteries! If you choose to pick this one up, be aware of the use of mental illness and the other trigger warnings (there’s a lot).

Content Warnings

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

dylpickles's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

goatsrsexy's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

4.0

An entire town goes missing and no one knows what happened to them, 60 years later a young woman with connections to the town has been fascinated by the story and the mystery her whole life and wants to figure out what happened also as a way to feel closer to her late grandma who lived in the village as a child but moved before the incident.

The mystery of the story is pretty predictable but I don't think that's a big issue. It's a very fascinating and sad story about fanaticism and about mental health. I did feel a certain characters 'psychotic break' that happened seemed a bit outlandish

Content Warnings

ekmook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

kt2e56's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This was such a disappointment for me. A solid premise and genuinely creepy atmosphere ruined by an impossible ending, ableism, and an asshole of a main character who doesn’t even try to use logic when making decisions.

Content Warnings

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