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inkandplasma 's review for:
Lies Like Poison
by Chelsea Pitcher
Full review available October 19th: https://inkandplasma.com/2020/10/19/lies-like-poison/
Trigger warnings: murder, child abuse, neglect, psychological torture, disordered eating, diet control, inpatient treatment, substance abuse, mentions of self harm and suicidal ideation, grief.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the eARC of this book, it has not affected my honest review.
The beginning of this book wasn't the best, I found it to be a bit confusing in some places and it had a confusing habit of leaping around from narrative to narrative. But then I honestly feel like I blinked and I was 60% of the way through the book and desperately needed to know what was going on. I saw a lot of the 'twists' coming when it came to the characters' sexualities and gender identities. They were well queer-coded, though it was a bit subtle. I wouldn't normally complain about that, because I love when sexuality is used super casually, but the reveal that one of the characters is trans was very sudden and felt a bit like it was being used as a plot twist. And I hate that. A POV character's identity isn't a plot twist and never should be a surprise to the reader! That being said, I'm glad this book was so fiercely queer and that the characters' sexualities and gender identities were accepted easily by the found family group.
And the found family content was *excellent*. I loved the conflict going on between them. At points I genuinely didn't know which of our main cast of characters I could trust, who had committed what crimes and who was hiding what secrets. It made for a really engaging read as I was eager to get each snippet from their perspectives so I could try and piece together the truth. It was nice too to read about a friendship group that had grown apart but was still loyal, the protectiveness of deep friendships even when separated by time and disagreements. It made me root for them more as I was desperate to see them come back together and bond.
I really like Chelsea Pitcher's writing style, and I'm always pleased to pick up another of her thrillers, they're always built around an interesting concept and I've never yet managed to predict whodunnit! I can't wait to see what comes next.
Trigger warnings: murder, child abuse, neglect, psychological torture, disordered eating, diet control, inpatient treatment, substance abuse, mentions of self harm and suicidal ideation, grief.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the eARC of this book, it has not affected my honest review.
The beginning of this book wasn't the best, I found it to be a bit confusing in some places and it had a confusing habit of leaping around from narrative to narrative. But then I honestly feel like I blinked and I was 60% of the way through the book and desperately needed to know what was going on. I saw a lot of the 'twists' coming when it came to the characters' sexualities and gender identities. They were well queer-coded, though it was a bit subtle. I wouldn't normally complain about that, because I love when sexuality is used super casually, but the reveal that one of the characters is trans was very sudden and felt a bit like it was being used as a plot twist. And I hate that. A POV character's identity isn't a plot twist and never should be a surprise to the reader! That being said, I'm glad this book was so fiercely queer and that the characters' sexualities and gender identities were accepted easily by the found family group.
And the found family content was *excellent*. I loved the conflict going on between them. At points I genuinely didn't know which of our main cast of characters I could trust, who had committed what crimes and who was hiding what secrets. It made for a really engaging read as I was eager to get each snippet from their perspectives so I could try and piece together the truth. It was nice too to read about a friendship group that had grown apart but was still loyal, the protectiveness of deep friendships even when separated by time and disagreements. It made me root for them more as I was desperate to see them come back together and bond.
I really like Chelsea Pitcher's writing style, and I'm always pleased to pick up another of her thrillers, they're always built around an interesting concept and I've never yet managed to predict whodunnit! I can't wait to see what comes next.