I had a great time with it and was excited to pick it back up. My only gripe is that the ending became a little too dizzying for me. I’m not entirely sure I understand what happened in the last bits. I think this will be a fun book to read again knowing some of what’s really going on and picking up new clues.  

Energy: Wary. Confident. Instinctive. 

Scene: 🇺🇸 A luxurious estate in Topanga Canyon, California

Perspective: We follow an aspiring PI undercover as a writer-in-residence at the estate of a famous thriller author. They are trying to discover what may have happened to a colleague and friend who was last seen in the area before going missing. We also get flashbacks to an earlier time in the same region when a killer was preying on women. 

 

🐕 Howls: Dizzying cluttered ending. . 

🐩 Tail Wags: Use of natural and man-made situations to create unease and high-stakes moments. Bursts of high stakes. Disorienting and unreliable narrators and characters. Our main character. Unhinged villains. 

 

Disorienting in the best way (on purpose and consistent) so I could still overanalyze characters’ actions and puzzle through the clues even while in suspended disbelief mode. I love when I can mentally yell at a character and then have it all make sense 🫢. 

 

The lead up to the ending was a little too all over the place and I was getting whiplash, but I still liked how it ultimately ended. Just be okay with open and unresolved endings, though!

 

Not a big fan of action movies or film noir, but this felt like a mix of those in a way I wanted. It had the elements of those genres that I enjoy (bursts of high stakes, misinterpreting dangerous situations) without the bits I dislike (no prolonged fight scenes or repetitive cat-and-mouse games). 

 

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🎬 Tale-Telling: Choppy, staccato, gritty. 

🤓 Reader Role: On the shoulder of the main character. Thrown right in the story with no idea what’s happening or who is who. We discover everything as it happens around us. 

🗺️ World-Building: Sensory, atmospheric, cinematic. 

🔥 Fuel: Starts with PI sleuthing to uncover what happened to the missing women in this area. Is Bailey’s colleague safe, in danger, or worse? Moves to what is actually going on? Who can we trust? Who is who?   

📖 Cred: Plausible to suspended disbelief but in an intriguing way. 

🚙 Journey: Memorable weekend getting lost on dusty, twisty roads with some great views. 

-Sundrenched hills. Wildflowers. Cicadas. Bacon sizzling. Smoothie blending. Frosted grass. Smoke-filled skies. Owl hooting. Footsteps on gravel. 

-Gritty whodunnit…did anyone do it? mystery

-Casts of potentially unreliable characters

 

Content Heads-Up: Medical (allergies, stitches/blood). Prescription drug use. Parental abandonment (brief, recall). Mental health (dissociation, fugue). Racism, prejudice (virtue signalling, characters). Loss of a parent. Murdered or missing persons. Natural disasters (fire). 

Rep: Black, White, and Latina Americans. Cisgender. Heterosexual. 

 

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley