If it wasn't for a murky paranormal element that never felt fully fleshed out, this would've been a full five stars for me. There were plenty of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I usually find that as I read a thriller I'm trying to figure out where the story is going to go. That's part of the fun of it for me. But with this book, I found that I was happy just to be along for the ride.

The concept behind this is incredibly creepy. I don't want to get too deep into it because it could be slightly spoilery, but I was thoroughly unsettled learning about 'The Other People'. The way this story unfolded and gave little bits of information here and there leading up to the big reveals felt very satisfying.

Like most thrillers, the characters in this book are flawed and messy and morally grey, but I still found myself wanting things to turn out well for them, because it was obvious that (for the most part) they weren't bad people.

As I said at the top, the only thing that keeps this from being a five-star read is the addition of a paranormal subplot that felt like an afterthought to me. It was never really developed and felt like a plot contrivance to push the characters where the author needed them to be. I also felt like the ending wasn't quite realistic aside from the paranormal aspect

we're supposed to believe these awful people have been chasing Izzy for years to kill her in order to satisfy the terms of Miriam's 'favor', and then at the end they just...give up? Maybe when Miriam died they considered everything settled, but it seemed like something that could've used some clarification.

I really want to read The Chalk Man next. I've heard so many positive things about that book, and if this book is any indication, I think I'm going to really enjoy it as well.