Mollee

God this book was awful. 
It was so boring, and there wasn't a “twist” I didn't see coming. 
It took me forever to get through and it threw me into a few slumps. 
Had it not been a Riley Sager book I probably would have DNF'd it but I should have anyways. 
It felt like NOTHING happened in the 300+ pages. 
Anytime anything started to get interesting it was explained away almost as quickly as it'd come up. I feel like any of the other suspect's being the  culprit would have been more interesting than the actual culprit and their story was. 
Riley Sager has always been a hit or miss author for me ranging from 2 stars (Lock Every Door) to near 5 Stars (Survive the Night and The Only One Left) but this was the biggest swing and a miss I've ever seen from him and boy am I disappointed. Even prior works that I rated low feel like 5 stars in comparison to this one. 
My worst book of the year so far. 

I could have done without that chapter. The one everyone always talks about. The one that added nothing to the story. The one that didn't need to be there. The one that was used simply as shock factor. Yeah, that one. 
But the rest of the book was actually pretty good. Obviously you're warned about what you're going into. It's extreme horror with kids. That's not for everyone. But I felt this was well written and well executed. 

I literally picked this up on a whim at my library. I'd never heard anything about it but something just stood out to me and so I pulled it off the shelf and read the synopsis. Still unsure I put it back but it just kept calling to me and so I figured “it's only 120 pages might as well just give it a shot” 
I LOVED THIS. 
Why is no one talking about this book when it's so good??? 
First off; It already has so many of the things I like in a horror so that set us up for success from the beginning (cults, unreliable narrators, mushroom horror? Or like fungal horror? Google says it's called “Sporror” Idk but I love that shit). 
And the writing was so beautiful. It was a little dense at times with a lot of big words that would trip me up in a few paragraphs but after rereading said paragraphs I was fine. 
This was just so creepy, and eerie and just so GOOD. 
Please read this book. It deserves more hype. 

Why did I low key kind of like this? 
I had read so many negative reviews of people hating this. But I didn't. 
Maybe it's because I know the main character (not literally obviously) but I know the type of person he is. I know him. I've loved him. And relating the MC to someone I know so deeply helped me connect to the horrors of the book. 
Maybe in 2006 this type of man was more shocking. But in 2024 this type of man is so common place in the world I wasn't really shocked by anything he said or did and I think that's the true horror of this book. 
The fact that something that was created to be so horrific and shocking has become so commonplace that not only did the actions and thoughts of this man didn't phase me, but I felt as if I knew him intimately in the men I've dated. 
I know that what I took from this book is very different from what most people probably have, but it allowed me the capability to actually sort of enjoy it so I'm okay with that. 

I've never read anything like this.  Our narration is told from the perspective of several members of the court during a murder trial. It was so unique I thoroughly enjoyed how it was done. Especially since we don't know the truth either, so we go through deliberations and find things out like we're also a member of the jury until the end.