I haven't yet read The Secret Place so I felt a little out of step with this one, but that didn't keep me from enjoying the book as much as I would have otherwise. It just made me want to know the backstory, which is a good thing. Antoinette is a truly flawed narrator but the author's always in control of it. That is, in moments where you want to smack her upside the head the author obviously knows that's a reasonable reaction and ultimately the character is very much rootable.

The theme of this book is how difficult it is to see objectively around the stories you make up in your head. Multiple characters trip themselves up by feeding everything around them into their own inner narrative, but that's a fascinating thing to watch. I especially loved the victim in this one. Throughout the opening sections Antoinette has nothing but contempt for her, but in the end she wins her respect--and mine too. You can see why Antoinette can't help but be hard on her, but learns a lesson in the end that other characters probably won't be able to learn.