May, 2024
May 2nd, 2024, 4:53 p.m. - Claire and present danger
17. You'd Look Better as a Ghost (Joanna Wallace)
Up next: Day One (Abigail Dean)
May 6th, 2024, 7:56 p.m. - Alex Jones can suck it
18. Day One (Abigail Dean)
Up next: Only If You're Lucky (Stacy Willingham)
May 11th, 2024, 4:13 p.m. - This is why I like to give writers a second chance
19. Only If You're Lucky (Stacy Willingham)
Up next: Daughter of Mine (Megan Miranda)
May 18th, 2024, 2:32 p.m. - I can't believe Chekhov's swimming platform didn't pan out
20. Daughter of Mine (Megan Miranda)
Up next: Safe and Sound (Laura McHugh)
May 24th, 2024, 4:21 p.m. - This is what I think of the ending
21. Safe and Sound (Laura McHugh)
Up next: Listen for the Lie (Amy Tintera)
May 30th, 2024, 8:29 p.m. - I want a series all about Beverly
22. Listen for the Lie (Amy Tintera)
Up next: The 22 Murders of Madison May (Max Barry)
Other than a stretch in the middle that was painfully boring (but turned out to contain stuff that was important later), this was excellent. Wallace is great with twists that make you go, "I never saw that coming, but it makes perfect sense."
This was different from what I was expecting, but not in a bad way. That said, while I liked it for the most part, it was hard to figure out the intention of the book. Was it a mystery? Because it wasn't solvable. Was it a story about a community? We only got to hear from a few members. Was it a meditation on grief? I don't know. What I do know is that conspiracy theorists need to learn to keep their mouths shut.
Last April, after I read All the Dangerous Things, I said, "Willingham may have lost me." I'm pleased to report that she has not. This was like a big puzzle that I was able to put together sections of, getting an idea of what it would eventually look like. When I got to the end, it all fit together. You won me back, Willingham!
This was also a big puzzle that I could only piece together a couple sections of. There may have been too much going on here, and it was a little slow even for a slow burn, but it was worth it.
I was with this until about the last 25 pages. Absolutely insane.
If I hadn't liked Tintera's writing as much as I did, I would have abandoned this before I was halfway through, because slow doesn't begin to describe the pacing. I'd probably read another by Tintera, but she's on thin ice.