The Return

When I put this on my “want to read” list, I'd seen some mixed reviews. I see why now. There's nothing groundbreaking about the plot, but Harrison does a good job of setting up the story. Woman goes missing, comes back two years later, and something feels off. Circle of friends decide to go to a fancy hotel to catch up and rekindle their relationship now that the friend has come back. Yadda yadda yadda.

The group of women were pretty hit and miss for me. Some of their conversations were funny but more often just really catty and annoying. And the women themselves, save for the protagonist, were pretty one-dimensional. Because of this, I felt like some of the dialogue seemed forced and unnatural. Tristan and Patsy seemed to have more personality and they were side characters.

I loved the setting. Most of the story takes place at hotel with themed rooms (ex: a gothic fiction room, a pink room, etc) with each woman getting their own hand-picked room by one of the friends. A solid 2/3 of the book takes place here, so the reader becomes pretty familiar with these rooms as well as the bar and dining area. Sounds like a good time.

OK, so we finally get to the climax, and that's it huh? I'm not exactly sure why Harrison chose to go from mystery to creepypasta, but I was let down. Maybe the marketing hurt this one, but I feel like the synopsis kind of gives things away more than it should, kinda like when trailers spoil all the good parts of a movie. I would have liked, maybe, the ending toned down a bit.