The setting and bad guys were the best!

I had pretty high expectations for this book because I loved There's Someone Inside Your House. I was hoping this would have the same feel as that one and in some ways it did. I really enjoyed the woods setting. The woods can always give a good creepy vibe and Stephanie Perkins did a wonderful job at setting the scene. The baddies were also very well done. They were disgusting and horrifying. Unfortunately I can't really say I liked either of the main characters. They were both very whiney and at no point did I ever feel either of these two young girls were intelligent enough or capable enough of going against these two horrible hillbillies. It was way too unrealistic for me. I think the writing was a little sloppy was well. It was very difficult to know what perspective the story was in and I was continually confusing Josie and Neena. I think if it had been formatted better with each chapter stating the perspective this might have been better. It was just unorganized. My least favorite part was near the end when each of the girls described the background of each bad guy from just touching them. I am not sure why Stephanie Perkins decided she needed the bad guys background to be known, I guess to give some sort of motive? It just wasn't necessary. If she did want to include it she could have done it a better way than having the girls get some sort of psychic ability by touching them to know what their past was like. It was really just odd and out of place. Most slasher type films and stories have a bit of outrageousness and unbelievable parts to them so I don't mind that. I do mind poor writing and poor characters. This one was mostly a miss for me unfortunately. Hopefully her next one will be more like her first thriller!