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A review by laelyn
We Lie Here by Rachel Howzell Hall
2.0
I've read one of Rachel Howzell Hall's books before and quite enjoyed it, so I was happy to dive into her newest thriller. Again, I was immediately hooked, even though the premise of a woman returning to her more or less rural hometown only to be met with a mystery is not a new one. I like it though so I was all game. Hall writes in a very approachable, direct way, at times I almost thought it rather simplistic. It's an easy to read book that I finished in a single sitting.
While I was hooked at first, that interest slowly but surely diminished over the course of the story. The mystery is rather predictable, there are too many repetitive dialogues in which a character explains something to another character that we, as a reader, already know or just found out, which just seemed redundant and unecessary. The characters themselves have potential but are rather shallow in the end, and because it's pretty clear where the story is heading and who the culprits are certain big twists about them don't really work so well. There's generally too much side noise, too, little stories that don't really add anything to the plot nor the characters. There is one central relationship between out protagonist Yara and her mother that I found really interesting, but the complexity of it doesn't reach the finish line.
All in all an okay-ish book with a writing style that just doesn't fit me as a reader very well and a mystery that is too predictable and pretty cliché as well.
Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for the arc!
While I was hooked at first, that interest slowly but surely diminished over the course of the story. The mystery is rather predictable, there are too many repetitive dialogues in which a character explains something to another character that we, as a reader, already know or just found out, which just seemed redundant and unecessary. The characters themselves have potential but are rather shallow in the end, and because it's pretty clear where the story is heading and who the culprits are certain big twists about them don't really work so well. There's generally too much side noise, too, little stories that don't really add anything to the plot nor the characters. There is one central relationship between out protagonist Yara and her mother that I found really interesting, but the complexity of it doesn't reach the finish line.
All in all an okay-ish book with a writing style that just doesn't fit me as a reader very well and a mystery that is too predictable and pretty cliché as well.
Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for the arc!