I mostly enjoyed this. It was such an interesting premise. I wish it was truly a standalone, I didn’t need the previous characters here for this one. 

 

Energy: Affected. Brusque. Patronizing. 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Various locations in Maine and New Hampshire.

Perspectives (3): A 39-year-old highly introverted librarian who had just about given up on love, now married. An old friend from high school reconnecting to help our MC with their suspicions around their new spouse. A murderer. 

 

🐕 Howls: Too condensed (wish we had slower burn on Martha’s suspicions and sleuthing). Contrived solutions that just didn’t hit. Inclusion of Lily and other characters from previous books. 

🐩 Tail Wags: The concept of the story. Fast pace. Martha’s conundrum. Serial murderer perspective. Narrative style. 

 

🤔 Random Thoughts:

This had a 90s early 2000s vibe to me for some reason.

 

Such an interesting premise but I feel like too much time diverged from the story to fit the previous characters in. Wish it was more standalone so we could spend more time on the plot, rather than the plot adjusting to work the characters into it.   

 

Also felt like we only ever get a taste of several intriguing storylines and then they're gone. The Martha-husband angle. Then the serial murderer angle. Then the Lily vs the monster angle. I would read like, three more books based on those ideas that were more fleshed out instead of crammed into one. 

 

If you aren’t vibing with the Martha suspicions story, by 50% it changes direction and we get different perspectives, so maybe hang in there. 

 

🤓 Reader Role: Narrator speaking to us. Like we are watching events unfold and the narrator is whispering to us what the background context is. 

🗺️ World-Building: Barren. Tiny details given on the type of house, pub, or neighbourhood – just enough for the reader to build off of if they want. 

🔥 Fuel: Dialogue and suspense is what builds and is driving story. Pure plot with little hints of vibes/building descriptions. 

📖 Cred: Plausible suspended disbelief

 

Google searches. Watching TV. Seedy bars. Dark parks. Watching out the window. 

 

Content Heads-Up: Serial murder. Homicidal tendencies/thoughts. Sexual content (pressured, curiosity; discussion/recall; polyamory, threesomes). Sexual violence (off page mention, pressured). Toxic relationship. Stalking. Sex work (discrimination, targeting). Drugging (very brief mention). Rape (very brief mention). Sociopathy. Kidnapping, confinement. 

 

Rep: American. Cisgender. Heterosexual. Pale and ambiguously described skin tones. 

 

📚 Format: Library Digital