Have you ever had a negative person in your life, the kind of person who goes beyond pessimism, who always thinks the worst of everyone and everything? They're exhausting, aren't they?

And that's the problem with Acts of Violet; the lion's share is narrated by Sasha, and Sasha is more bitter than a kale and vinegar smoothie.

Sasha's sister is Violet Volk, a stage magician who may or may not possess actual powers. In Sasha's eyes, Violet can do no right. Every motivation is sinister and every kindness is suspect. This isn't to say Violet isn't flawed, she is, but Sasha's disdain comes across as almost pathological.

This also goes for most of the other people she meets; podcaster Cameron, the other narrator, is, according to Sasha, insufferably smug. When her daughter, Quinn, bristles against being kept in the dark, Sasha wonders where her "hostility" is coming from. She's a pill and a half, and she left me wishing Quinn had been the POV character, or just Cameron; everything he unearths about Violet is so much more interesting than Sasha's passive-aggressive poison. (Why would you dangle the plot thread that maybe Violet was a psychic secret agent and not follow up?)

Despite all that, Acts of Violet is compelling; I recommend the audiobook, a multi-narrator production that's very well done.