CW: Suicidal ideation, it’s lightly alluded to in the beginning and then addressed later in the book. There are a few others that I can’t tell you because they are massive book spoilers. If you have specifics, I’d google them first before reading the book.
Oh man, I wish I could’ve ended up loving this book, I was in love with it at first…here’s the premise. A woman is housesitting at a fairly isolated beach house after a traumatic car accident that was fatal, and also her fault. She spends her days contemplating whether or not to walk in the ocean with a backpack of rocks, reading books and ultimately reminds herself to stay alive to be with her wonderful dog, Laika. During one of her 3-a-day reads, she’s recommended a terrible self-published book. After reading it, she writes a one star review giving details as to why it’s not very good. Within minutes, the author contacts her and asks her to remove her review. She declines. They verbally spar and then? He comes to kill her.
Ok, that sounds kinda fun, right? Implausible, but fun!
These descriptions are amazing. I couldn’t stop laughing because our author is truly making fun of self proclaimed Sigma Males. Every time we get Emma’s POV versus Howard’s POV, you will snort. For example, when he comes to kill her, he’s wearing a fedora and thinks he’s wearing a “power murder outfit”, she sees it all a little differently. Truly, this reminds me of a much funnier American Psycho (because you get reality too). (more content after the picture jump. Take the time read them, they’re hilarious).
And here’s where I can’t give a truly proper review without spoiling the book.
The problem with this book is that too much happens and the red herrings aren’t red herrings and what’s actually happening seems pretty clear. And then it very clearly happens.
BUT THEN…
There was a great ending!
And then there was another ending that was less great…
The book was too implausible to be “good good”. Character development was an A+! Truly chef’s kiss on the creation of the killer–he’s what Patrick Bateman would be if we ever got anyone else’s POV of him. I snorted too many times whenever I read anything from his perspective.
THE MOST MASSIVE SPOILER OF ALL TIME.
(stop reading if you don’t wanna know)
(but keep reading if you’re a dog lover)
(still with me?)
Laika, the dog’s life is in danger multiple times. She gets poisoned, shot at, etc. Laika lives and it’s all because a) she’s a very good girl. and b) because Emma loves her dog and is a freaking bad ass and knows exactly what she needs to do for Laika at every turn. She stays alive to keep her pup alive, and that is her only purpose and focus. I thought you deserved to know because it was a real cause of stress for me.