★☆☆☆☆ / Spoilers ahead!
Two stars may be generous for this one (Edit: I went back and knocked it down to one star.) I have the ARC for this one and I don't read a lot of thrillers, so maybe I'm being harsh. But, during book club I also felt very validated because a lot of people felt similar to me.
Here's the synopsis from Barnes and Noble:
Some people lose themselves in a novel. Others lose everything.
Holly Sinclair, a struggling author, is dead broke. After being evicted from her New York apartment, she returns to her family’s dilapidated beach house in coastal New England with one urgent goal: write a book that sells. Fast.
Reinventing herself won’t be easy, but the old seaside town offers a few unexpected allies. Gail, a driven local Realtor, introduces her to a charming handyman who can help her get back on her feet. Serena, the town psychic, offers encouragement and an unsettling warning about danger ahead. And Jade, a teen runaway, is hiding out in Holly’s attic and desperately needs a safe place to land.
Holly takes Jade in, and soon the girl finds work with the powerful Carmichael family. Their dynasty has faded, but their connection to Holly’s past is darker than she wants to remember. Their secrets could put both women at risk.
Not everyone is glad to see Holly return. Someone in town is watching her every move. The Watcher knows something Holly doesn’t. The past may be a foggy echo, but it’s close enough to come rushing in with the tide.
The first word that comes to mind when I explain this novel is disjointed. There are a lot of characters, and I think if there were less it could have been a stronger story because we really could have focused on a small handful of people in the coastal town. A cop would be mentioned in one of the first chapters and then reintroduced almost familiarly toward the end. A smattering of characters, if you will, which isn't ideal for this set up.
When I say disjointed, I am also referring to the plot. It feels like threads don't tie or the ones that do tie are ones that readers didn't care too much about. A very slow read to set up and then a rush to wrap it up, which is disappointing for a thriller.
The novel is told from three perspectives: Holly our MC, Jade: a teenager squatting in Holly's old house, and The Watcher, which is a little corny. Then when you find out who it is, it doesn't make a ton of sense. Maybe it does and I wasn't reading close enough. Jury's out on that.
There is also a big reveal at the end where a character that is supposedly dead is revealed to be alive and they are the Watcher. IMHO, the story would have been stronger if they had stayed dead. I like a plot twist when there are baby clues leading up to it so you can flip back and have the OH! moments, but this was very sudden and it didn't do much for me because it didn't feel premeditated.
Small thing: You don't know how much time passes in the novel. It feels relatively quick, but with the gravity of what is happening in this seemingly short time span, it has to be longer. But there's no telling. The epilogue is mentioned to be three months from the end of the novel and there is a lot of FAST forgiveness from a lot of emotional/traumatizing things. I think some kind of timeline, even a divide by month, would have been really useful here.
Overall, I wasn't into it. I didn't love the plot, there were no characters I particularly liked, which is difficult because then there's no investment in the novel. I have heard that the author's previous book is also disjointed, so I don't think I'll be revisiting this. But it was good to try something new!
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