I think Lisa Jewell succeeded at writing a really engaging novel. I devoured this. Every time I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about reading it or planning how I could make more time to read it. It took me less than twenty four hours to get through because I was enthralled. But to be honest, that was about the only thing I enjoyed.

I struggled a lot with getting into this book. It was hard to follow all the characters and the different timelines when I had no idea what the story was about or how these people connected. I genuinely couldn't follow the story at all for at least the first third of the book.

And then once I did, I never felt connected to any of the characters. Libby was beyond flat, and her wooden conversations with her friend Dido and utter lack of chemistry with the love interest confounded me. They kept talking about how into him she was, but I never got that at all. I didn't get any personality from her, and honestly couldn't tell you a single thing about her right now that didn't relate to her messed up family. She dropped everything for the mystery, including apparently her personality.

Lucy could have been interesting if she was ever allowed the time to develop, and Henry spent so much time in the past that I was only reading his story looking for answers to what was going on.

But man, Jewell can right a good narrative. Did I care? Not really. But I was so invested in reading that it almost didn't matter. She grabbed my attention with her storytelling, even if not the story or the characters themselves.

I do understand the hype for Jewell. I didn't really enjoy this book much, but I'd be very interested to see some of her other books. If she writes them like this, I almost don't mind the flaws. Worth the read, and I'm curious if maybe she has a book where the story works a little better for me.