paulineerika 's review for:

All the Dead Lie Down by Kyrie McCauley

3.5

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

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I was going to round this up to four stars, but the ending kind of didn't do it for me. It's a very well-written book and a relatively quick read, but I think ultimately I wanted more tension and creepiness. Marin's anxiety, for all that it was a major focal point in the first few chapters, kind of seems to take a backseat to her attraction to Evie. And the mystery surrounding Evie and the Lovelace family does seem to be revealed pretty quickly/easily. 

As for the ending, I hadn't gotten the level of tension around Alice to make it as satisfying as it could have been. Alice was either too present or not present enough in the story as a human character--not mysterious enough to be ghostly and not present enough to wonder if she was going insane. I actually would have liked more of her backstory and I felt the "reveal" about her was almost an easy way out. There could have been a lot more done with that and with her character, but instead we got this reveal through journals and third-party accounts. I thought this didn't really do the story or the character justice and it made the ending a little less interesting to me. 

All that being said, if you're looking for a Gothic sapphic YA story, this is a pretty good one.