Overall Take:
Good suspense if you know what you’re getting into
Star Rating:
4 Stars
Genre:
Thriller, Suspense
Synopsis:
Riley Sager is one of a handful of authors who I have read every book they’ve written. His books are always fun, though I do always struggle because the thriller label invokes certain feelings and expectations for me, and I think that his books are more suspense novels. Suspense books are slower paced, and more atmospheric. But since I’ve read every single one of his books, I have come to know what to expect at this point. The writing in this book was very atmospheric, and descriptive. Maybe a little too descriptive at times, but it worked for me on audio. I did find things to be repetitive, and I had a lot of questions. I don’t know if I’m being more critical after reading all his books, or if I’m just late to noticing, but there were some things I wish were answered. While I did enjoy this on audio, I found the narrator’s voice to be particularly grating while saying “Screech” which happened probably ten times. I then found it incredibly odd how we moved through the whole book at a meandering pace, only to wrap things up with a nice bow in the last 20%. It just felt like someone said, hey we have to wrap it up now and then it was. The pacing change was jarring and that is probably my biggest complaint, I can overlook the rest. My favorite part was the 90’s nostalgia and the atmosphere, it was there in spades.
Despite having some flaws, I do highly recommend this book. It’s not my favorite Sager, but it’s good.
Thoughts:
Chuck Tingle has a very bold and interesting way with words. His works are never disappointing and manage to invoke so many emotions. This book took me through being sad to laughing out loud, and in between I felt a little hopeless, but he managed to show me the way. It was a lot, all packed into a horror book nonetheless!
The writing flowed wonderfully and was beautifully descriptive. This book kept me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what was going on until the last minute. I had no idea what was going on, but I was so engaged that I didn’t care. Then when we finally did find out what had been going on, my mind was blown, just Wow! It was fantastic, what a wild ride, and I highly recommend it to those who like horror, but also want some levity in their read.
This is a book unlike any other I have read. I highly recommend you check it out!
Publication Date:
June 18, 2024
Author:
Riley Sager
Page Length:
384 pages
Publisher:
Dutton Books
Thank you to:
Thank you to @PRHAudio and @Duttonbooks for my gifted copy. All thoughts are my own.
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