I enjoyed this a lot more than Jonathan Sim's first novel (Thirteen Storeys), it felt a lot more put together and the (still very obvious, but it's not trying to be hidden) main message (capitalism is the real villain) was a lot subtler and I think written smarter as well. I think it was really well done how you could remove the supernatural elements and the core conflict remains: people are slipping through the cracks of society and being forgotten and their deaths are not faultless, and are in fact murders (if not by a malevolent ghost/demon, by the government. Near the end of the novel, a character questions if the supernatural antagonist is one of a kind, and suspects there are more like him, to which another responds "they're called tories") I think focusing on one main protagonist (who I loved) also helps the book keep focus and keep the audience engaged in the story, which is a big improvement over juggling Thirteen Storeys massive cast (a hold over from Sim's previous anthology-style writing on The Magnus Archives, I always assumed). I also want to add that this is the first I think I've ever seen a queerplatonic relationship depicted in a mainstream published book, which was very cool.