Secrets, lies, and a murder.
I’m so torn about this book. The premise was great, reminiscent of The Lovely Bones in many ways, but all the teenage points of view with their angst and drama actually made this too much like a YA genre novel for me.
I like teenagers, but I’m past wanting to read books where they are the main narrators. I prefer adult viewpoints with the teens there but not heard. I quickly became annoyed with their antics and behavior. Yes, the murdered girl was a teenager but I wish it had been more of a police procedural with the focus being on their investigation.
I’m not a supernatural or ghost believer so that already had set me off with the dead girl making appearances in the narrative. Conveniently of course, unable to remember who actually murdered her. Lots of red herrings. Plenty of really nasty people living in that small town hiding lots of bad behavior. The notions that a 12 or 13 year old child has a smartphone and the parents have no clue what they are doing on it. So many things got me in a snit and, coupled with the climax with the revelation of the killer, put me way off. So much wasted potential for a good story. But yeah, I think it will find success with a young adult audience. As the points of view went from one character to another, I thought to myself — what a lot of icky people live in this town — and never really related to any of them.
I was able to listen to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. The production had 3 different narrators and they did a decent job of pulling me into the story and kept me reading even when I wasn’t sure that I wanted to finish. I always appreciate when audio has a larger cast and includes both male and female voices.
I’ve read several previous books from this author and liked them more, so I’m sure I’ll return for another novel by Shari Lapena.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - mystery, suspense, supernatural, adult novel that reads like YA
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