The style of this book was stellar. The poetic, minimalistic approach weeded out anything unnecessary and had me focused on clues, tone, and anything to be gleaned between the lines, almost as if I were eavesdropping on these girls. It was a very successful style for a whodunnit, and had me turning pages!

That said, the final reveal fell rather flat. There were a lot of red herrings, and the actual criminal is rather obvious once its obvious. (Spoiler alert, it's the one with the fewest viewpoint chapters, because obviously her own PoV would have given her away.) In fact, the flower-named girls are all a little too on the nose: Thorny Rose, weepy Willow, over-achiever Laurel, insidious Oleanna....

The book doesn't say much beyond the page, the basic jist being that girls will do anything for love (not just romantic love, but rather the affection of acceptance, the feeling of belonging.) In the end, there is no turn of the screw about the dangers of religious zealotry, or what monsters lurk beneath human skin, or masculine vs. feminine power, or a Gothic tale of how the leader of this compound is slowly losing his mind and his isolated group who follow him deteriorate as he does... There was a ton of potential that was missed. Even the title is misleading, suggesting a grand, dark fantasy. There is a metaphor about sheep vs wolves - i.e. being a follower of rules vs. a meter of justice - but it is only a metaphor, there is no Black Mirror paranormal twist where these teens are werewolves, or part of a bloody wolf-god-worshipping cult, or anything of the like. Without that extra OOMPH this book basically says, "Some girls are lawful. Some break rules. Everybody keeps secrets.".... No, duh? It's not the most mind-blowing takeaway, even if it was well-written.

This book is a good standalone. I think it could have been great. I think it could possibly be redeemed with a sequel, to see what becomes of the compound once Joseph falls. Alas, that may be wishful thinking on my part.