White Smoke

3.5 Started slow but really careened towards the end to then just....fizzle out. I liked that this was a departure from her other books but she took on so many big themes (gentrification, Get Out specific racist town plot, anxiety & mental health, mass incarceration, decriminalizing weed, televangelism scams) that it ended up a little messy with a lot of hanging and/or underdeveloped plot threads.

i got so properly spooked by this book that my partner had to check the house for me to sleep properly lol

tiffany d. jackson is, in my opinion, the queen of the unsettling. it's a lot less blatant than in some of my other favorite unsettling books (never let me go, etc.) and thus much more scary when the twist is revealed. i am STILL thinking about monday's not coming and allegedly. still! it's been two years!

however, white smoke, which is an outright thriller novel, fell a little short for me in terms of my unfortunately high standards with regards to tiffany d. jackson novels. the eeriness was not as subtle this time around, and the signs of gentrification were a little obvious for my liking but at the same time not nearly explored as much as i would've liked?

i feel really conflicted with the ending and how the book wrapped up, but i still enjoyed the spook nonetheless

read for halloweekend: a host favorite

this is definitely one of my least favorite of tiffany d jackson's work but i adore almost everything she puts on and this had that same classic writing in here that i love from her. i enjoyed the conversations around addiction and gentrification and even divorce/blended families but i'm not really into haunted house stories in any medium so it fell flat for me there and the ending was so adrupt. i still had a good time but due to the nature of the story, it happened to just not be my favorite but if you love haunted house-type stories with an unreliable narrator that leaves you questioning if the house is actually haunted or not, you might love this one. speaking of unreliable narrators i loveddddd that aspect of the main character too 

I. Was. Creeped. Out. I am not the easiest to scare or creep out. I enjoy a good horror movie, story, book, etc. but I am so picky about what truly frightens me. And this book gave me the creeps. And I think what made it so creepy was how much the story was believable. Tiffany Jackson's writing made me think and feel like I was in that situation. This book is so much more than just a haunted house too.

The next thing I truly appreciated was the portrayal of anxiety and how people with it struggle and become desperate to ease the storm that goes on in our brains daily. The issues that it arises with family and friends and how it can be such an apparent issue but also something that you are so disconnected from to be able to control.

Finally the subtleties of class and color discrimination. It isn't written in a way that's in your face but you cannot be blind to it. The control and dominance are so subtle. Yet, you're regularly left wondering what can be gained from the motives of certain characters throughout this book only to realize it doesn't matter. It's all about the control and manipulation of the town and the people in it.

Weed. Marijuana. Grass. The devil's lettuce. Whatever you call it - it is a prevalent topic in this book. It's a unique perspective as well that I think people will find intriguing (especially in today's society).

Finally, the ending throws you a curveball. And if you pay attention it's honestly not the biggest surprise but it is very well executed. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would LOVE for there to be some sort of continuation to it. I'm also excited to get to Grown (also by Tiffany Jackson) which has been sitting on my shelf for too long.