The Verifiers

most of this was consumed while driving. i listened to the last chapter or two or three on fast speed while mowing the lawn, and halfway through my yard, the book ended what felt like weirdly and abruptly in an unsatisfying way. i'd consider this an “i only finished because i'm a damn completionist” book. i didn't so much dislike it as i was disappointed by it. i guess i don't read that many mysteries but since i wasn't really invested in the mystery itself or the protagonist inserting herself into strangers' lives in the role of delulu detective, i had to force myself to continue. MC was sapphic with no real impact on the story and zero payoff, the chineseness references made me cringe (see status updates), and the dialogue felt just a tad off-kilter throughout, like it was approximated by bots (how apt given the plot). the setting was mildly dystopian wrt consumer data, machine learning, and algorithms, but it was also like the dialogue in its uncanny valleyness: just a bit too off from reality and therefore weird and not that believable.

i really wanted something juicy to happen between the MC and her blonde assassin boss and i think the author knew that.