I wanted to love it, but...

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Here's a book I really wanted to love - not least because so many other people seemed to. However, I found it far too easy to stop and put it down, to go a whole day without reading it. The story felt stretched thin, like there were too many characters trying to hold up the narrative. Between two cops, father, son, and murderer, there were so many perspectives and the only characters who felt like people were Pete and Tom. When only two characters are real enough to carry the story, maybe five perspectives is too many.

It wasn't particularly scary. There wasn't any gore or really any violence (what violence there is is summarized in a few quick flashes and the proclamation of "lots of blood" which means very little to me). The fear of the original killer and the new one didn't really set in. The old killer only seemed to matter to Pete and the new killer isn't prolific enough to really be scary.

I did, however, really like Jake's imaginary friend.

Tom's ending felt cheap and a little too familiar. Amanda's ending would have made more sense if we actually got to know her more. Pete's ending was fitting. The murderer's ending was odd but not altogether surprising. Overall, I think these endings sum up my feelings for the book as a whole: not bad, but certainly nothing groundbreaking.