Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC ✨

This is the second Lisa Jewell book I’ve read, and I had high hopes! But unfortunately this one just didn’t hit for me. 

I had a few problems, but mainly, the writing in this book felt like script notes and not prose. It was blocky, robotic and served one function: what is happening in the scene? It had no soul, and even with obvious tonal changes between POVs, this book relied heavily on the “tell, don’t show” in laying out the scenes. I felt like I was reading the script notes, the scene laid out in almost clinical terms for the actors and directors to understand where they are in the story. 

The dialogue was word vomit every time, just breathless spewing, and it was totally unrealistic. Would people really just sit and listen to a long speech without interjecting ever? Without the character who was speaking pausing to notice something about the character they’re speaking to? It was bizarre. This on top of the robotic scene building solidified my sense that this book read like a script and not a novel. 

It all felt a little soulless, and not the good kind fitting for a thriller. 

Another problem I had was the sheer amount of characters. They all had names, backstories, and too many had POVs. It was really hard to keep them all straight in my head. 

I did enjoy the premise, however. This story had strong appeal to me, I thought there was promise. But the storytelling left much to be desired. I also hoped for a more thrilling climax to the story, but it was a little bit of a letdown there too. 

I hoped for much and unfortunately this wasn’t a win for me this time. 

2.5 stars. ⭐️⭐️💫