Absolutely not the sort of novel I would normally read. It was gruesomely violent but very suspenseful and exceedingly well paced. Let down by stereotypical characterisations

• Published: 2020
• Completed: 2023/01/04
• Pages: 482

Absolutely not the sort of book I would normally read. Having said that, it was exceedingly well constructed with superb pacing and plot. I’m not entirely sure I enjoyed it, but it was (mostly) easy to read.

What made it hard at times to read was the extreme sadism being described. The novel is proudly and unflinchingly violent. I am curious how it feels as a woman to read such horrible imagined crimes as there were moments that made me feel gross and I skipped lightly over the words so as to not read them too keenly.

There is obviously a lot of sexual violence against women in this novel. Contrasting strangely against this is the weirdly Mills and Boon type depictions of romance and consensual sex. I also found it disappointing how the main character Sara, has a dead ex husband who was essentially a cardboard cut-out jock while her new lover is this well-trod brooding silent type. Additionally, their hyper masculine physical descriptions made this novel seem strangely pandering towards women.

This is where I felt the novel was weakest, with the cliched and stereotypical characterisations. This is to the extent where it feels like even the physical poses adopted by the characters feel like television drama tropes. The police brutality and sloven junk food consumption. Detectives smashing car dashboards. Directors hunched over and brooding over their staff. Villains monologuing and then committing suicide. Maybe people are really like this, but we have literally seen this all before in generic syndicated crime shows.

On reflection, I think this made it hard for me to relate to the characters. They simply did not seem like real people. While it was suspenseful and I didn’t want bad things to happen to them, I don’t think I actually cared for many of the characters. The only exception was with the first girl and the final girl. I think there was enough internal dialogue and quirks to their personalities that actually made me care about them.

All this said though, overall the novel is a very accomplished and filmic pulp fiction work that I can easily see being adapted into a series or movie.

Quotes

“The code word is salad” p446

“With Jeffery, Sara had known that there were dozens, possibly hundreds of other women who could love him as intensely as she did. With Will, Sara was keenly aware that she was the only woman on earth who could love him the way that he deserved to be loved” p83

Trashy!

“His breath caught. His heartbeat doubled. She felt his response pressing against her leg” p202

“You are smart, and funny, and handsome, and sexy. And I love the way you make me finish every time” p230

“I gotta hand it to Sara. She comes off like a tight-arsed goody-two-shoes, but that nasty bitch has got a snatch like a Venus flytrap” p131

Questions & Thoughts

Jared, Lena’s partner / father to her child; I don’t understand the family tree. How is Jared both Jeffery’s son and Sara’s (his ex wife) nephew?: “Will was secure enough in his masculinity to admit the kid was incredibly handsome. The insecurity came from the knowledge that Jared was a carbon-copy of his incredibly handsome biological father, who happened to be named Jeffery Tolliver” p119

How did Jeffery die? Or is this novel part of a series and this is covered elsewhere?

Murdered inmate at the beginning?

Yam emoji meaning?

Jolene as the woman Jeff cheated on Sara with? Like, really???

Why would you use a condom to orally rape a corpse?

Why would you need to confront Brock if there is a condom with presumably his semen or skin cells inside the victim?

Do women really take note of their hair ties?

Men – height and hands 😝

Typography

Barely a whiff better than Times New Roman. Contributes to the pulp fiction vibes

New Words

• C5
• Thanatological
• Petechia
• Cross peen
• Bradawl
• Adipocere
• Limerence
• Semelparous

Ratings

• Hayley: 10/10
• Kaye: 8/10
• Liz: Did not finish
• Sarah: 8/10
• Sally: 8/10
• Thành: 7/10

Restaurant

Hotel Marion (because of the tree being like in the woods where the crimes occurred)

Liz brought along hair clips as a table prop (because the killer stole hair ties as mementos)