You Shouldn't Have Come Here

Let's start at the end...
Overall, this book kept me engaged until the end. It was a red herring galore, a thriller bingo, and kind of twisted but also entertaining as hell. The main two characters were confusing but intriguing. There were tons of decoys, and the end was unexpectedly good and action-packed. Though some characters felt unfinished, leaving some loose ends, I still recommend it. Mystery books can be so predictable and boring nowadays that this was refreshing and fun.

Now, let's dive into the details... (Some spoilers ahead)
Many give this book low reviews because it was cringey and not much happened. But I actually enjoyed it so much, with the “who's the actual bad person” question constantly in mind.

I'm not going to lie. This had many clichés, like the girl entering the basement right when the guy comes home, the jealous ex-lover, the isolated house, and the broken car situation. It was thriller bingo.

But even then, I found it humorous and entertaining. It is not a comedy, but catching all these clichés and red herrings trying to throw the reader off was fun and, I guess, effective. I wasn't 100% sure my guess of the ending was correct.

Yes, the FMC has her damsel in distress moments. Still, the writer throws you a curveball by making her sound momentarily super cunning, leaving you confused, thinking, “Wait, is she planning something here?.”

Then the MMC is all broody and hot. I found his character a lot more intriguing and more challenging to figure out. I liked the whole love-bombing situation because most thriller villains tend to be cold-hearted, calculating psychopaths. But in this book, the guy sometimes genuinely feels attachment and infatuation. I found myself smiling at the end of every chapter from his POV because he would sound genuinely small-town, puppy-love naive. Then, in the very last sentence of the chapter, he would say something sinister. The change was so abrupt that it was actually funny. After a few of his chapters, this writing pattern was pretty obvious, like screaming at me, “Look at this guy, HE IS THE BAD GUY.” But my internal questioner was like, “Nah, you really want me to think this. This is obvious: he's not the actual bad guy.” But he would really do weird shit! LOL, this book legitimately made me laugh a lot in the best way.

I loved the end. It was a little predictable in pattern but not in execution. I had a feeling about who the real villain was, but how it played out was so over the top that I was shocked and chuckling at the same time.

One thing that left me thinking was the whole “scratching an itch.” At the end, when the character says it while hugging the kid, I'm like, “Wait, does this person want to kill a random person again... or do they want to kill the family?”