Ratings29
Average rating3.5
i dnf'd this, i wanted to on page 10 and made it to page 42. i don't understand, i've read a few books by peter swanson and loved them so i'm confused, did i have the wrong expectations or am i stupid?
this is advertised as a ‘classic country house murder for the festive season' - i thought it would be gripping, thriller-ish and most of all interesting?
the whole thing (or the portion i read which was part 1) was a diary of the main character which was just so weirdly written. sometimes it would feel like an actual story and other times it felt just so disingenuous. for a diary, i would have expected personality.
i didn't even remember the characters name (ashley) or what she studied at uni. all i know is that she's american, goes to university in london, and likes boys. she has no personality, she honestly seems like a sheep who is overly excited about men. overly excited in a non believable way. every time something is brought up to develop this character, it ends in two sentences.
the plot (from what i can tell) is ashley is invited to stay at her ‘friends,' emma's(they don't seem like friends i know nothing about their relationship) house for christmas. she meets her brother - which upon meeting him twice, decides she's in love with him. the people around the town think ashley looks like a girl who was murdered recently, and they think emma's brother did it.
which would be an exciting plot, except the writing did just not pull me in at all. the book is only 104 pages, so i thought it would be a little more fast paced. ashley comments a few times she's living in a ‘gothic horror' and i was just saying no you're not, nothing has happened to make you believe that realistically. sure you might have the heebie jeebies at most.
when she meets him for the second time and they share one kiss she says ‘am I in love with him?' and I audibly said what do you mean??? and that's when i decided to dnf it - i was already bored.
i don't know what to say maybe i'm confused, maybe i missed something or was in a bad mood / disinterested? please forgive me mr swanson.
he writes really good stuff; i recommend the kind worth killing & every vow you break :)