this isn’t an easy book for me to review. to be honest, i was bored with most of it. it took me several days to read, while i read the silent patient took me a few hours.

this book follows mariana traveling to her niece’s college when another girl is found dead. mariana is a psychiatrist and a widow who lost her husband in a storm in greece. mariana thinks the killer of the girls is the popular american teacher, who is quite obsessed with greek, and she spends the book trying to prove it.

the big shocker doesn’t hit until there are about 20 pages left, and nothing before that particularly surprised me. i was kind of annoyed at mariana for taking drinks poured by sketchy men. there’s also a kind of side plot with one of her patients that really doesn’t need to be in the book.

i noticed a lot of the writing was telling more than showing, especially in the epilogue. it just didn’t flow well for me. i also wish the twist was explained more. it was so fast and unexpected that it almost felt like it was a last second thing.

i’m really disappointed that i didn’t love this, but i know a lot of people did! so just because i didn’t love this book, doesn’t mean you won’t! and i’m so thankful to @celadonbooks for giving me the chance to read it early.


tw: murder, death, depression, animal killing (p. 232), suicidal ideation, suicidal threat, abuse, stalking