Scan barcode
A review by mweis
Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash
3.5
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
I was initially intrigued by the cover and title of this book and then I saw "part murder mystery, part gay international-fugitive love story—set against the ’90s Satanic Panic" and knew I had to read this.
While I don't think that summary is wrong, I also don't think it set the right expectations in my head for what this book would be. I wouldn't call this a thriller for one. It's a slow moving book and goes into the psychology of cults but the suspense comes from the relative naiveté of Lacey being a young child when her parents get accused. In that respect, I'd almost categorize this as a coming of age story/bildungsroman over a thriller.
I liked the exploration of hysteria and how damaging "witch hunts" become and I loved how affirming Lacey was with Dylan's gender identity. That being said, while I liked a lot of aspects of this book, I struggled through other aspects. There is a time break about 60% of the way through the book that while it makes sense in the context of the story I found quite jarring to experience and it made the back half of the book feel less immersive.
I was initially intrigued by the cover and title of this book and then I saw "part murder mystery, part gay international-fugitive love story—set against the ’90s Satanic Panic" and knew I had to read this.
While I don't think that summary is wrong, I also don't think it set the right expectations in my head for what this book would be. I wouldn't call this a thriller for one. It's a slow moving book and goes into the psychology of cults but the suspense comes from the relative naiveté of Lacey being a young child when her parents get accused. In that respect, I'd almost categorize this as a coming of age story/bildungsroman over a thriller.
I liked the exploration of hysteria and how damaging "witch hunts" become and I loved how affirming Lacey was with Dylan's gender identity. That being said, while I liked a lot of aspects of this book, I struggled through other aspects. There is a time break about 60% of the way through the book that while it makes sense in the context of the story I found quite jarring to experience and it made the back half of the book feel less immersive.