as I was reading this, I seriously thought to myself “can I really give this one star because this is just so bad” 🥴 and then the surprise ending plot twist bumped it up to two stars because that was literally the only good part of this story…

I preface this review by saying that historically darby kane is usually not the author for me 🥲 so there may be others out there who can resonate with her kind of thrillers more than me…

but this one was just so poorly planned out y’all 😅 I really should have DNFed, but I wanted to see how it ended and if there was any redemption for the lack of cohesive plot. as it’s a good old fashioned revenge story focused on a murder from college times, it gave wannabe dark academia vibes mixed with unhinged narrators and characters (but not in a good way)

I think if the plot was a little more planned out with less obviously guilty characters, it would have been not a memorable but at least a likable thriller. instead, the storyline was all over the place with the characters each lying so terribly in their own way to protect themselves that the reader has absolutely no clue what the heck is even going on…

this just felt like one bad horror movie, with a slight improvement plot twist in the last chapter (a darby kane famous moment). and while I wish I could say there were more likable moments than that, this is supposed to be an honest review and I’m scathing today 😶🫠

a big thank you to netgalley and william morrow for putting up with my critical self and sending me this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review 

rating: 2 stars
wine pairing: new zealand cabernet sauvignon