I adored "Oona Out of Order", reviewed it here in October 2020 giving it huge praise, added it to my all-time favorites list, and have told everyone I know about it, so needless to say, I was expecting very big things from Montimore’s follow up, “Acts of Violet”.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t hold a candle to OOOO.

Very interesting premise surrounding illusionist, Violet Volk that may or may not have supernatural aspects to her magic act, since she disappears without a trace and nobody can seem to explain it.

The theme of the story, though, is more about how her family feels being left behind, specifically her sister, Sasha with whom she had a estranged relationship.

Much of the book involves transcripts from a podcast, magazine and newspaper articles, and emails. While a fun way to tell a story from a lot of different viewpoints, it did become tedious.

I loved the mystery element and that’s what kept me reading, because I just *had* to know what happened to Violet.

I was really disappointed in the end and irritated that we are given no real explanation. I would’ve liked one more chapter from Violet’s perspective to help end the story.

Quote from the book I loved: “When you really don't want to believe something, you'll create a new logic to circumvent the truth; sometimes necessity isn't the mother of invention so much as denial.”