Hmmmm... not quite sure what I just read (I actually went with the audiobook, have an ebook too). I was enjoying it, at the first twist, I wasn't THAT surprised, but then twist, twist, twist. For me, it ended up a convoluted mess and I just wanted to be done. I think maybe I'd appreciate it more if I did an in-depth re-read, had a discussion in a book group, etc ... but I don't really want to. I want to be done. 

No chronological chapters (and as Ted even says, he struggles with differentiating between the now and the then), just the different POVs: Ted, Olivia, Dee, Lauren. This makes it difficult to transition between formats, finding my spot from audio to the ebook.  At first, I liked Ted, I felt maybe it was a bit of a Boo Radley situation? There was definitely some strange stuff from the start.  Then, Olivia's POV .. and I loved it! I'd read Hollow Kingdom not long ago, plus a few other books with talking/thinking animals, so, it was fun. Add in Dee ... and I was confused (maybe in my listening I missed the fact that Lulu had a popsicle, to make that connection), but it was strange, the snakes. 

Ted and Olivia's chapters were 1st person/present tense (some past tense when it's a memory). Dee's chapters are 3rd person, present tense except for the first Dee chapter, which is in the "past" and past tense. 

You can't really talk about this book without spoilers ... funny, looking at the Q&A here on Goodreads, almost everything is marked as a spoiler. So, SPOILERS below as I just get out a few of my own thoughts. I'm not sure I understood and caught everything, but I'm not invested enough to spend more time researching and re-reading ... I did have quite a few questions and I think my face was physically scrunched up for the last half of the book. 

Can you say UNRELIABLE NARRATOR(s)???

So okay ... Ted has multiple personalities after the abuse from his mother. There's Lauren, and Olivia and Nighttime, and even the green boys around. He still "sees" young Ted, there's a "big ted?" ...  and his father and mother. He(and we/the reader) figure out the ted/mom and such, but the Olivia/Lauren is maybe the first big reveal, and at that point we/the reader are still unsure of their 'reality' ... then the confirmation that neither are real, it's all Ted. Then the revelations about Dee and what really happened in the past. And reveals of what happened with momma. The stabbing, the snakes. It was all just a little too much.  I mean, this isn't paranormal, so it's supposed to be something that could really happen, but REALLY? Even just ONE of these things, much less all of them ...

... 

So Mommy took Lulu (thinking she was a boy) and buried her next door because Chihuahua  lady was out of town. How old was Ted then, he didn't see any of it because he was at the 7-11? No mention of Mommy being around or questioned when the house was searched, I thought Ted was older at that time, living alone, that Mommy had died when he was little? So I'm super confused about the timeline of all that.  And how close do dogs have to be (as dogs were called to search the house, and she was just buried next door). Okay - I did reread one of the last TED chapters that "mommy had acted just in time (killing herself). The police came two days later ..." So the dogs not only missed Lulu's body next door, but also Mommy's body in the woods. Unreliable narrator and time distortion made this very confusing ...

Ted and the bug man/therapist ... what was all that? I'm getting that he wasn't really a good therapist, just offering cheap services in hopes of getting material for his book? But he DID write out prescriptions for pills that Ted took to the pharmacy next door ... but later in the hospital the Dr. says that the medication is outdated and haven't been manufactured in 10+ years. So did Ted imagine going to a pharmacy as stated, he does say he got them "in the office" later at the hospital ... so are the pills just a slight contribution to (hallucinations, memory loss) or would all that be happening anyway? Did we find out what happened to the Bug Man (was he dead, hurt? Going to press charges, this going to come against Ted too? Apparently nothing happened, Bug Man was just gone even though many had seen Ted attack him?

Dee ... after all that with the snakes to REALLY have it be a snake in the end, that was dead but she picked it up. Was it still alive after all or was it a death movement? Was her body found did they say?

So Lauren appeared before Lulu ... that was all just coincidence, that Ted had a "young girl" in his house when he was a suspect in the disappearance of a young girl ... who while his mother hadn't killed, had taken her body and then buried it? So many coincidences ...

I didn't really get the NIGHTOlivia in the end ... 

Originally I had thought "why do they have a single/Male narrator when Olivia/Lauren and Dee are female characters?" Generally I prefer different characters to have their own voice, especially in 1st person. But ... it actually makes perfect sense given that they are all Ted. It also is acceptable with Dee because her chapters are 3rd person. 

I have been okay with the author purposely miseading the reader (just saying that is a spoiler in and of itself, but one I liked was [book:Find Us|58275443])  IS it "misleading" when it's outright incorrect memories/moments being described though? Even if you say "they are lying to themselves" I just don't like that in a book setting. I understand the concept of an unreliable narrator, but this goes so much beyond that ... It rubbed me the wrong way. 

There was an interesting Author's Note ... it wasn't included in the Audible version and I feel like it should be!
 
There was no proFanity, and Olivia actually gets angry about "taking the Lord's name in vain" ... the whole religious bent was strange ... I didn't like it at all.  There was torture and pain.