Adam SP

This is a heavy, heavy story, and it took me a while to get through.

It is brilliant, challenging, and emotionally raw.

4.25 out of 5.

Great character development, well paced story, and utterly impressive ending.

I'll be pondering this one a while...

To be fair, I really struggled to decide between 3 and 4 stars.

If you could break it down into categories/aspects, I think it'd average 4, hence the decision.

This novella is fascinating. At first you don't realise the character is descending into so sort of mental decline, and the loss of grammar is jarring, but then it all clicks.

I have many questions. Don't read this if you want to get to the end and feel complete. You won't. My imagination is performing acrobatics, and I'm enjoying it.

I feel that this is a very polarising bit of literature, and you'll either be enthralled, or absolutely hate it.

It's short, at only 169 pages, so worth the time.

3.25/5; I am so intrigued but this one.

The way it is written, as a collection of letters, gives fantastic Bram Stoker-vibes, but done so completely originally.

The way Scarlett is so vivid in her writing style makes it incredibly easy to visualise what she has written; that aspect is excellent.

But, there are some really frustrating parts of the narrative, and the final letter feels like it drags on for too long. The very end also leaves you feeling wholly incomplete.

We'll written, great premise, and glad to have completed it.

This is a hard one.

Caroline Kepnes is a damned talented author. The writing style, the descriptions, the story telling, it's all top notch.

But this protagonist is the absolute worst! I hate him with every fibre of my being. And I think that's the point? But I hate him so much, that it ruined the book for me.

It's why it's been in my "currently reading" for so long; I couldn't read too much at once, as I was getting too angry.

My 2 star rating is based on my individual enjoyment; it's not reflective of Caroline's artistry. Caroline knows how to write, and I'm so impressed that she was able to write Joe in such a way that *he* - not the idea of him, but he himself - got so under my skin.

I can see why so many people *do* enjoy this book, but it's not for me.