Thank you so much to Sourcebooks for the advance copy of this!

This book will be out on March 25th.

I am very conflicted on how I should write this review. I have been putting it off for a few reasons and one of them being seeing other reviews and doing research on the very obvious subject matter within the pages of the book.

The good: Though this was a little slow and I would feel like I was reading forever but not getting anywhere, I was still so immersed into the story. We got a full beginning, middle and end. Winstead created such a backstory for our FMC Jane. You are sympathetic towards her because of being with her when she learns of her father's death and then with her during the depths of her grieving. As the reader, you could see how she just continues to spiral and to make sense of her father's death and then throwing herself into solving crimes as a distraction. I love how Winstead created this online community and the connection that Jane made with those individuals in the community. Those side characters are also what made the story. Winstead was able to craft their backstory within the text and made you attached to the characters. You rooted for them, you questioned them, your heart broke for them, you were scared for them. Everyone at one point felt like an unreliable including the narrator.

The bad: I am not a true crime fan. I will see headlines in the news but sadly I have become so desensitized by the stories that I see the story and then move on. Before reading this book, I was talking to my library co worker about it because they already have read it and she was the one who told me that it felt similar to the Idaho murders. I had no clue based off that what she was referring to but then when I looked it up, I remember this being a story and the connection to Pennsylvania (where I live). But if it weren't for my coworker telling me about that. I'm not sure I would have made the connection. Knowing though how similar some of the timeline is from that night to what happened in the book, it is not a good look for Winstead. She could have changed a lot of things to make it her own but she didn't. I know this has left a lot of readers feeling very icky.

All the things I mentioned above in "the bad" is a shame because it tainted the overall book experience for a lot of readers (and even myself reflecting back). I am still rating it a 4 because I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the ride was a rollercoaster of emotions. I still enjoyed the structure and what Winstead was trying to accomplish with the storyline. I would have rated it a 5 had the storyline wasn't SO close to the real life tragedy.