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artemisf 's review for:
Something in the Walls
by Daisy Pearce
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Mina has just graduated with a degree in "child psychology" and feels she needs to prove herself, so when she receives an offer to take a case in the small village of Banathel, she jumps at the chance. She teams up with a journalist named Sam, who has experienced tremendous loss and grief in life just like Mina. In Banathel, Mina meets Alice, a troubled teenage girl who swears there's a witch that watches her through cracks in the wall. Is Alice suffering psychologically, or are the town's superstitions actually true?
For the first half of this book, I thought it was a VIBE. I love supernatural stories and anything to do with witchcraft, and Pearce's descriptions of a possible witch in the walls gave me chills. Mina's backstory is very interesting and I like how it informs her character and her decisions throughout the novel. There are several likeable characters here, and I adore how Pearce uses unique descriptions of Mina's emotions and physical states.
The novel loses steam around the halfway mark for me, though. Pearce has a habit of reminding the reader of dialog/events that happened very recently. Mina will think of something Alice said, or remember something Sam did, and this happens at least once a chapter,. It gets grating. I don't need that many reminders, I promise! Additionally, Mina as a character does very little to actually help Alice. As a psychologist myself, I was confused about Mina's degree. Does she have her Bachelor's? Master's? She certainly doesn't have her PhD. It may be different in the UK, but someone with an undergrad degree would NOT call themselves a child psychologist, and frankly Mina seemed pretty useless throughout.
Finally, the ending was unfortunately quite frustrating and left far too many things unanswered. I think with a bit of tweaking, this novel could have been really strong!
For the first half of this book, I thought it was a VIBE. I love supernatural stories and anything to do with witchcraft, and Pearce's descriptions of a possible witch in the walls gave me chills. Mina's backstory is very interesting and I like how it informs her character and her decisions throughout the novel. There are several likeable characters here, and I adore how Pearce uses unique descriptions of Mina's emotions and physical states.
The novel loses steam around the halfway mark for me, though. Pearce has a habit of reminding the reader of dialog/events that happened very recently. Mina will think of something Alice said, or remember something Sam did, and this happens at least once a chapter,. It gets grating. I don't need that many reminders, I promise! Additionally, Mina as a character does very little to actually help Alice. As a psychologist myself, I was confused about Mina's degree. Does she have her Bachelor's? Master's? She certainly doesn't have her PhD. It may be different in the UK, but someone with an undergrad degree would NOT call themselves a child psychologist, and frankly Mina seemed pretty useless throughout.
Finally, the ending was unfortunately quite frustrating and left far too many things unanswered. I think with a bit of tweaking, this novel could have been really strong!