Great story by a writer in need of a good copy editor
3-1/2 stars for a solidly plotted thriller that introduced me to a new author. The opening chapter, which I read on the BookishFirst website and then received as a free ARC, is in the form of a journal entry by an obviously disturbed male, in which he describes killing his brother by pushing him in front of an oncoming train. It appears he's sharing the journal entry with a therapist, and he ends the reading by commenting that his brother's murder was not his last. From there, the novel moves back in time to a private prep school where two students had been found brutally murdered the year before, and where other students who survived the night of the murder have subsequently returned and committed suicide. Although a suspect was quickly identified and police deemed the case solved, it later became the subject of a popular podcast that raised troubling questions.
Obviously, this is not a tale for the faint-hearted, but for those who love a dark mystery, it's an engaging story that held my interest and kept me guessing until the surprising reveal at the end. It's very much plot-driven, and peopled with a number odd characters who remained more caricature than realistic. My copy is an ARC, so I sincerely hope there's still time for good copy-editing, as this author's too frequent errors of grammar and word usage -- yes, I'm a stickler about that -- definitely interfered with my enjoyment of the story.
Obviously, this is not a tale for the faint-hearted, but for those who love a dark mystery, it's an engaging story that held my interest and kept me guessing until the surprising reveal at the end. It's very much plot-driven, and peopled with a number odd characters who remained more caricature than realistic. My copy is an ARC, so I sincerely hope there's still time for good copy-editing, as this author's too frequent errors of grammar and word usage -- yes, I'm a stickler about that -- definitely interfered with my enjoyment of the story.