John

Not gonna lie: Picked this up more or less blindly, didn't realize it was for 15-year-olds. That being said, it wasn't half bad.

It's a PG-13 'Saw,' in a lot of ways. Something in between 'Goosebumps' and 'Fear Street,' with one use of the f-word, if you're counting. Melodramatic, obsessive, neurotic characters that probably would have been relatable a few decades ago.

For what it was, it was fine. Something I flipped through for a few hours last night. Can't say that I wouldn't flip through another one.

My only gripe is that the character with the most interesting possibilities--cousin Tess--is used like a prop throughout the entire thing, when it is clear that she is the true hero of the novel. #TeamTess

Trigger warnings for mental health / suicide.

This was my first Riley Sager novel. I've heard you either love him or hate him. I did not love him.

I agree with most of the criticisms I've seen for this book: slow, boring at times, a flat hero, almost DNF'd, etc. That's all true. And more.

I'm willing to forgive all that.

But, when you deliver two major reveals, back-to-back on the same page nonetheless, they'd better be tight. When you go where Sager does here--dead husband is actually the serial killer the cops are looking for, and he's dead because our hero killed him, and he's a ghost who just possessed the missing girl--it needs to be believable.

I'm not talking about suspending disbelief. Okay, this guy's a ghost now. Also, our hero killed him. Fine. Tell me he was actually in outer space the whole time. I don't really care.

But this story is told in first-person. We are inside Casey's head the entire time. Which means that we have access to her thoughts, and there's no way that this wouldn't have crossed her mind on page 7.

The reveal cannot be something that has been inside of the hero's head the entire time, when I've also been inside the hero's head the entire time. There is a difference between being mislead for fun and being lied to for convenience.

It's a cheap trick, and it's a gaping hole in an otherwise weird, fairly enjoyable if sometimes boring story about an obsessive alcoholic woman and the ghost husband she killed last summer.

I like the fact that this thing turned and went somewhere I didn't think it would go. I like how it was actually a different story than the one I thought I was reading. But the whole thing pivots on a huge reveal that just feels underhanded. An unreliable narrator, I can accept. But I have to draw the line at an unreliable author.

To be fair, I am now seeing that this appears to be one of his worst-liked books, and I would honestly give him another shot. But this one is not recommended.

"I am a dead Playboy bunny and I am a fly and I am a wolf, and I am any wise man's worst nightmare."

I loved this. The final 15 pages were sort of underwhelming (but frankly fitting), and I agree with other reviewers that the first 80 pages or so are a bit of a drag at times, but my few gripes are overcome by the pure (perverse?) joy I had while reading certain passages, accompanied by the songs referenced in those passages (I'm looking at you, Rob Zombie).

And the dark humor, sign me up twice. This thing is funny. And poignant. And at times, both funny and poignant. A bit of a spoiler, but for example, there is a scene in which Maeve is at a fancy party, and there's a guy there who is uttetly fascinated by the videos that he and his buddies send to each other, of themselves defacating into the toilet.

He starts to show the videos (over the futile-protest-turned-begrudging-acquiescence of his girlfriend), and Maeve ups the ante, telling him that she has a cool video of a botched c-section, before pontificating briefly about consuming the placenta. And THIS is what brings the conversation to a screeching halt. THIS was too far.

This is simply an illustration of an idea that is plainly stated throughout the novel: Men are expected to be gross, to have dark parts, to be brash and powerful and unflinching. It is understood. But such standards do not apply to women, and certainly not to Disney princesses, even the most popular one, even the one who would be the ice queen (the film's original intended villain).

I had a blast with this. Just read it already.