I thought this was great! Given its summer time and I am consuming more thrillers than maybe I usually would, this supernatural mystery was a nice change of pace while still fitting with my mood of the moment. (Also, I am coming to find I love a mystery/thriller with just a hint of magical realism/the supernatural).

I really liked the character. I thought she was a great embodiment of the strong female character without falling into cliches and stereotypes. I liked the plot and was consistently intrigued through out the book. Similarly I thought the subplots were well thought out and interwoven nicely without feeling chaotic, or like we were throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the book.

Only a couple things held it back from being a full five star read for me. The first was this bizarre love quadrangle. I don’t think it was particularly bad? Like as far as love quadrangles go I found it amusing enough. But just kinda unnecessary.

The other thing was that it felt like there were some dramatic shifts in action. I was listening to this so it’s possible that I missed the transitional sentences? But I’m reasonably sure we didn’t. We’d be just sitting at the kitchen table one moment observing something happening outside and then bam, we’re in a car driving somewhere else. Or I thought the Mc was getting ready for bed and then she’s got two visitors and they are all talking at the kitchen table.

It was really weird? It’s hard to say without the physical book in front of me to read through, but listening to it gave me whiplash to the point I was rewinding or flipping to the previous chapter to make sure I hadn’t accidentally skipped ahead.

It wasn’t so confusing I couldn’t follow it, and didn’t detract from my enjoyment much, it was just a small hiccup.

I would definitely read more from this author in the future. I think I’d even read more about Vivian Bouchet if this was turned into a series.