Repeat after me: There's no excuse for domestic abuse.

Not even because you don't want it to ruin your weekend away. Like seriously, what did I even just read?

Firstly, Rich didn't seem to have ANY issue with being friends with an abusive bully. His only issue seemed to be that it bothered Kara that her sister was being abused. It didn't bother Rich at all. His constant need to "break the tension" was really just him not wanting to do anything about his friend abusing his wife.

I only kept reading in the hopes Max would die and was very pleased when he did. But why did Allison have to die, too? First, she's treated like her abuse is an inconvenience, and then she gets killed off. No, thank you.

I love cryptids but the way domestic abuse was handled (or not handled), the pointless side characters, the stilted and expository dialogue, the unrefined writting style, and the constant use of 'bear' as the plural form of bear, made it so whatever cryptid elements I may have otherwise enjoyed fell completely flat.

This book was definitely not for me despite the premise being spot on for my usual tastes.

Do. Not. Recommend.