First of all, spelling “Oaklynn” instead of “Oakland” is wild. Charlotte is diverse and not as lily white as this book would make it seem. And I’m pretty sure Black people actually live in Myers Park. As for the story, this is a fun thriller but also infuriating. Anna an Asian American woman has all white friends and no friends of color especially Asian ones. Even her husband is white. Her one friend Marybeth is a racist twat. And Anna is just making excuses for her shitty behavior. Anna’s dumb ass puts up with this fool flirting with her husband in her face. That’s how blind and dumb Anna‘s character is. This is disappointing but I’m not surprised. Stay tuned…. The only Black people in the damn book are ones in servitude to the white characters. A mess. Josh, Anna’s husband is annoying too and there’s no chemistry between them. Why are they even married?
Her asshole neighbor Marybeth isn’t her actual friend but a racist POS so that explains her behavior, but it validates that Anna is stupid and oblivious to red flags all around this could’ve been suspenseful with a smarter more bad ass character. It’s really annoying how dumb, oblivious and self, doubting, she is.
Also, it’s pretty fucked up that Oaklynn‘s size is mentioned all the time when she’s in a scene. Her size has nothing to do with the story, other than possibly a description in the beginning. Other than that, it’s fat phobic as fuck and totally unnecessary. As for Oakland, there’s no reality where a parent would not sense that Oakland is out of her fucking mind and kick that bitch out of the house, and the story would’ve ended there. You cannot suspend belief enough to go along with this shit. It makes no sense. This woman is obviously unhinged and weird as hell and no person in their right mind would let a stranger make them feel that uncomfortable and weird around their children in their own house. And that stupid ass husband of hers, acting a fool right under her nose and she’s just as oblivious AF . That’s the major problem with this story.
There is a scene when Anna is in the hospital with her daughter Veronica again, and an older black woman is also waiting to be seen. This black woman has no name and just described as Black. And once again, she’s in servitude to Anna‘s character, easing her mind and making her feel at ease. A lazy trope.