I got this book as BOTM pick because the synopsis and cover reminded me of a phone game I liked to play, I know weird reason to get a book. So I thought it was just going to be a fun little thriller mystery, but it really grabbed me. From the very first chapter, I was itching to know what had happened 5 years ago, what the secrets were, who's lying, what happened to Kaavi, and then even in the final chapter there's one last little twist. All the characters, starting with the main one Amaya, are unreliable narrators. They all have secrets, they all lie, they all want to protect themselves and until the end you don't know who to trust. 

I really liked the mystery, I thought the author did a really good job jumping between past and present creating a timeline of events, and I appreciate that there are no loose ends, every mystery and secret is revealed because, personally, I find it annoying when I'm reading a mystery and end up with more questions than answers but what took this book from 4 1/2 stars to 5 for me were the final chapters which focus on Kaavi's POV. Not only because we get to finally see who she really is and we get a lot of answers but because we get to see that she and Amaya aren't that different after all. 

CW: casual ableism, self-harm (on page), violence, death, blood, gun violence, mental illness, trauma, alcohol use, sex, slut/body shaming, domestic abuse, gaslighting/catfishing, misogyny, brief mentions of drug addiction and pedophilia (not graphic)

this was quite the ride with a bunch of twists & turns, especially in the end. love me a book with rich people drama, even if it's not the entire focus in a story. will definitely pick up more from Jayatissa in the future, this was so easy to get into.

This is a strong 4 stars for me, a fun read with layers I didn’t expect and that just kept on coming. I was enraptured with the plot and really liked the writing. I was also lucky to be listening to the audiobook, and the narrators were incredible, I can’t give them enough praise.

The book goes back and forth between Amaya’s point of view of events over a few days, and the accounts of other characters who give their own perspective. It makes it really interesting and is a splendid set up for some really well engineered reveals and progression points.

And then there’s a third point of view that shifted my entire perspective on things and added so much context and was placed really smartly in the book. Absolutely delightful.

The morals of everybody involved are delightfully twisted and the book left me feeling like well- that was even more messed up than I thought. But in a good way. The layers of morality.

It was also a really fun projection into both Sri Lanka and the high society of that place. It really felt like I could place myself there, the world was really well brought to life.

My only gripe with the book- but it’s a pretty big gripe- is the laying it on thick about one of the characters. I think it could have been more subtle and the result of it was just a lot. I would have been sold just as effectively with less. 

This is about Spencer: I was already down with hating him at the gold digging, the blackmail, and then EXTRA down at the abuse. Adding a layer of pedophilia, though it provided additional motive for Amaya, I thought was unneeded and just made him into a caricature of a villain. “Just add one more despicable thing just to be 100% sure”. Abhorrent, but just to sell us more this character hatred, which I was already sold to and now just felt queasy.

This is a bit sad as the book otherwise does a great job of depicting tense relationships, two-faced individuals, and

a truly splendid job at describing how abuse is insidious and can destroy how you used to be. I loved that the security agent simply believed Amaya about the abuse, or at least let her talk. It’s important.

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Finally another gripe would be the little faux pas of implying

an addict’s son would be an addict too. It’s also an extra way to make us hate this character, I suppose, but not a great way. The fact that a character was delivering drugs to him was a good way to start hinting at Spencer’s facade being just that, but I wished it didn’t turn into “he was an addict the whole time, he’s a bad person who even does cocaine.” Again doing a little too much with Spencer, but with added insensitivity imo.

All in all I liked this book a great deal and couldn’t stop listening, I am delighted to have spent time with this, and picked up another book by this author. Read the trigger warnings REALLY carefully, because they’re no joke. But if you’re good to go, then I could not recommend it enough.

This was a super fun thriller with some good twists. I was hooked the whole time!