why is this so highly rated?? i listened to it as an audiobook on a couple of long trips and it definitely kept me entertained, but there's really nothing special about it. this book has made me realize that just because someone is a bestseller, they're not necessarily the best author. the plot was relatively interesting and i liked the twists and turns, particularly with the trial, but the writing was just...not good. the characters were poorly developed and cliché, the pacing felt off, and certain things were confusing. for instance,

Spoiler

why have the murderer be a random guy introduced halfway through the book? why did he shoot up the school when he didn't even go there? why did he have the knife if the police report said that the knife was tossed out the window? why did aidan lie about there being a burial? why were melanie and zach even in the house to begin with, when neither of them owns it?

. some characters were just flat-out annoying, like murphy. she seemed like the quintessential flawless woman written by a man, in that she embodied all of the ideal masculine traits while still having sex appeal. and she was one of the most interesting characters in the book! while we're on the subject, the lesbians were so terribly written. the "bury your gays" trope notwithstanding, no lesbians sit around saying "if i liked men..." i guess the thriller aspect worked, as even though none of us liked the writing we continued to listen to it to find out what happened at the end, but it really wasn't worth it. smh james patterson do better.