A review by holly_117
Hold the Dark by William Giraldi

3.0

This is one of those books that's really hard to review. It's very well written and the plot is tightly woven, but the story seems incomplete. There's a clear arc to the story, but so much is never explained or discussed that the ending is unsatisfying. I'm not a person who has to have everything wrapped up in a neat little package at the end of a book, but this one just left too much unexplained for me to give it a really good review.

Spoiler

For example, you learn that Medora and Vernon Slone are twins, not just a married couple and that everyone in Keelut knows that. But you never learn Medora's reasons for killing their son, Bailey, or contacting Core, the wolf expert. You never learn why Vernon and Cheeon go on their killing spree once Vernon gets back from his deployment. You never learn why they let Core live - was it intentional or a mistake? Did wolves really kill the other two kids or was that Medora too? Or Bailey's work? Who knows?