Devil's Advocate

I WANTED TO BELIEVE LIKE THIS but it was just a struggle. I love Dana Scully obv, and I liked seeing her as a teen with her hippie sister Melissa.

In addition to me not really buying the plot, it also seemed kind of lazily edited? Like characters would just contradict themselves within the same conversation...and at first I thought maybe it would be a clue or something that they were lying but Scully never seemed to notice or comment upon it.

The whole time I was mad about Scully having psychic visions and then when they turned out to be drug-induced I was like, OK I guess? But it just seemed like a dumb twist, especially when I spent the whole book being low-key annoyed. I guess it does kind of explain why Scully would grow up to be a ~skeptic~ but mostly...dumb.

Also it felt too long, it was a real slog to get through. And I say this as, presumably, the target audience of this book–a millennial who grew up loving X-Files and still reads a lot of YA? Although IDK, maybe someone who didn't like X-Files could read this as a standalone without having a persistent sense of Scully wouldn't do that throughout. But...I don't think the mystery is that well developed to be enjoyed without the X-Files tie-in.

:(

–

I re-read this for the podcast and did not like it any better the second time around

https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-156-devils-advocate/

I actually really dug this book. The writing made this character feel like the Scully I know and love, the story was original and interesting, and it kept me guessing right up until the very end.

Only downsides were the very repetitive chapters spent visionquesting at Beyond Beyond and the confusingly written visions and dreams.