If I could sum up this book in one word, it would be “meh”. 

It’s unfortunately hard to follow - chapters rotate between narrators and first and third person. Somehow all of the characters felt like the same person, and it didn’t help that the investigation involved multiple family trees to keep mental tabs on (in addition to family members being removed, and people changing their names multiple times while also having various nicknames). The audiobook was a nightmare to try to follow along to because of this, but I’d imagine following a physical book would also be annoying and you’d likely spend time flipping backwards to try to remember who is who.

On top of that, the storytelling felt like it was trying too hard to be deep and meaningful, but just ended up feeling bland and unmemorable. 

I did think the ghosts being haunted by the living thing was a unique twist I hadn’t seen before; I wouldn’t mind seeing that concept used in another novel. The idea that ghosts can be afraid of someone dying and haunting them eternally was an interesting thought that could definitely be fleshed out more in a different tale.

I do have to tip my hat to the way they handled the darkest concepts of child s*xual abuse, drug addiction, cancer, and domestic violence without going into detail or getting graphic, something many books in this genre struggle with. The setting is given, but the reader connects the dots on the events without being given the gorey details.

This novel was a bit slower than expected, but in the best way. I took my time with it and thoroughly enjoyed the story. The discussion of genealogy was interesting, and I personally enjoy the forensics side of criminology quite a bit so this was very much up my alley. A sad story, but also hopeful in a way. Beautifully written, I would definitely recommend it.