I have some deeply mixed feelings about this book, and since I don’t know how to talk about my reading experience without discussing plot elements, this review is definitely going to contain vauge-ish spoilers.
I’ve read some of Jennifer Dugan’s other books, and this one was wildly different. The placing and themes were definitely those of a slow-burn thriller, and I liked that I was consistently gaslit by the narrator. Sloan’s progression through the novel was believable and incremental, and I liked that the ending didn’t play into some of the tropes that the rest of the book hinted at re: adoptive families, etc.
But.
The end also made me go, “WTF?” in part because of the loooooooong conversations trying to explain certain aspects of the story. And while I didn’t love all the stuff surrounding the cult of animal-masked murderers and rituals, I understand why Dugan included some of those things. Overall, I enjoyed the ideas, but not necessarily the execution.
That said, up until the ending, the books was a solid four stars for me. And I was literally sitting there at 93% percent white-knuckling it through the end and going, “What is real!?” As for the ending itself, I think it fumbled the landing, but I can’t deny that those last pages were powerful, and the final twist (?) was inevitable. I love this genre, and while this book left me not-quite-satisfied, it was certainly much closer to the mark than The Final Girl Support Group, which tackles similar ideas but with less nuance and subtlety.
I’ve read some of Jennifer Dugan’s other books, and this one was wildly different. The placing and themes were definitely those of a slow-burn thriller, and I liked that I was consistently gaslit by the narrator. Sloan’s progression through the novel was believable and incremental, and I liked that the ending didn’t play into some of the tropes that the rest of the book hinted at re: adoptive families, etc.
But.
The end also made me go, “WTF?” in part because of the loooooooong conversations trying to explain certain aspects of the story. And while I didn’t love all the stuff surrounding the cult of animal-masked murderers and rituals, I understand why Dugan included some of those things. Overall, I enjoyed the ideas, but not necessarily the execution.
That said, up until the ending, the books was a solid four stars for me. And I was literally sitting there at 93% percent white-knuckling it through the end and going, “What is real!?” As for the ending itself, I think it fumbled the landing, but I can’t deny that those last pages were powerful, and the final twist (?) was inevitable. I love this genre, and while this book left me not-quite-satisfied, it was certainly much closer to the mark than The Final Girl Support Group, which tackles similar ideas but with less nuance and subtlety.