Every once in a while, I read a blurb for a new book and put a hold on it through the library. Most of the time, I completely forget I’ve done this until the book shows up on my desk. So All I Want showed up on my desk, and I had absolutely no recollection of why I wanted to read it.
The premise is interesting enough: pregnant woman and her Broadway producer husband buy spooky old house in the country. Even better: spooky old house used to be a “rest home” for Broadway actors who needed to dry out, and there’s a huge old theater in the middle of the decrepit mess. At first, it seems like this is going to be a haunted house story; there’s creepy stuff in the attic, there were three old hermits who lived in the house until their deaths, etc.
But then we start taking a turn down Gaslight lane. Both that movie and Rosemary’s Baby are explicitly name-checked. So, it seems like we’re doing the unreliable narrator thing, and Emma, our pregnant main character, is being manipulated to some kind of nefarious end.
And then…there’s the last chapter. Which takes everything in an entirely new direction, and frankly, ruins what was a pretty serviceable thriller. It’s like the author was so determined to make this book extra clever, that it just spun all the way back around to stupid. Plus the characters were either entirely unlikeable, or completely stupid. Give this one a miss with a clear conscience.