No component of this, I felt, was done well, aside from the pacing. The book is readable and quick. But craft-wise, as with The Silent Patient, this is bad, even by commercial fiction standards.

First of all, the foreshadowing is far too heavy handed. The most viable suspect immediately available is the correct one. The motive is telegraphed in a meeting with some other characters (as well as her own therapy session) early on, yet a revelation later undermines the foreshadowing in favour of a really, really weak motive that is further abstracted as it is entirely offscreen and never characterized. And then, in the end, that original telegraphing I mentioned actually is used to foreshadow the end. It’s bafflingly poorly constructed. Also the red herrings don’t actually work. The strongest answer remains a through-line.

There is major issues with show-don’t-tell, often saying how a character feels, to the point of almost breaking the fourth wall to tell the reader directly. The character work is razor thin. The dialogue is serviceable but not noticeable. Every male character sounds the same as the last. They all even literally display the same mannerisms via our heroines lens. It lacks specificity and active verbs or interesting diction. It contorts what is believable into something that undermines the plot.

The real question is why is this not one star. Two reasons: I did finish it. The popcorn commercial fiction aspect artificially paces it with structure and its so short that it’s easier to see if you are right than put it down. And it is not overtly, actually offensive as The Silent Patient was with mental health and professionals in the field, and I think it’s appropriate to add a star for that.