Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
This is Faith’s story, written from her perspective. At 13, she and her sister arrive at their family’s cabin. What was meant to be a fun-filled 13th birthday celebration ends with Faith’s sister, her friend, her friend’s aunt (her father’s lover) being killed by her father. Or were they? Faith is the lone survivor who insists that her father, who then committed suicide, was not the murderer. It’s a great premise, but it is never followed through. Instead of following through and searching for the real killer, Faith binge drinks. She is such an unlikable character, yet you feel bad for not feeling some empathy for what she has gone through. You become a spectator to the story instead of being drawn in.
There are so many inconsistencies in the story it is hard to reconcile them to make them believable. Faith knows her father didn’t commit the murders, yet she continues to have doubts over the next 10 years. She continues searching for the killer she saw, at the same time she is blaming her father. Faith spends years institutionalized, while her therapist mother writes a tell-all book exposing her daughter’s pain and inability to cope. Faith binge drinks, on top of her heavy medication, and upon release from the mental facility, her mother just plops her in an apartment and expects her to get a job.
There are so many twists in the book, they become contrived, convoluted and beyond belief. The ending takes so many quick turns your head is spinning. Everything Faith sees is a red herring, and the ending rushes at you.
This is a long and drawn-out story, and I’m still not sure why I continued to read it. Lately I seem to be putting books aside, thinking that there is so much good stuff out there, why spend time on the bad. This one could have gone by the wayside without a blink.
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