3.5
I'm having such a difficult time rating this book. Maybe writing this review will help solidify my thoughts.

Maybe I'd hyped this book up too much in my mind. Maybe I let the hype of others raise my expectations. And there were things about this book I loved. But there were other things that were less successful.

What I liked:

1. The setting. 1920s New York City. Sign me up for that all day, every day. I love stories from that time period. Flappers, Vaudeville, music, silent movies and film stars. It's all used in this book to help create the world. The fact that this is a paranormal story taking place during that time is just another plus.

2. The audiobook. I listened to this on audiobook so I could do the million things around my house that needed doing, and I have no regrets. Even when I had time to sit down with the physical copy, I still had the audiobook on as well, because wow. The voice actor did an absolutely phenomenal job. There are about a dozen different dialects and accents that she had to contend with, as well as a demonic entity, and Oh. My. Goodness. She was fantastic. I would say this is probably the best audiobook I've ever listened to that isn't full cast. And to be honest, it gives some of those a run for their money as well.

3. The ghost story. Naughty John is definitely creepy. Especially with the song and especially when we learn about his past and his story. There were a couple times I definitely got chills. This also ties back into the audiobook though. The voice she gave Naughty John was creepy AF.

4. Social commentary. I like that this story didn't exist in a bubble. Yes, there are a lot of crazy things going on in this world, but that doesn't erase everything that is happening in society on a day to day basis. There are discussions about racial and gender equality, eugenics, sexuality, women's autonomy (or lack thereof) over their own bodies, etc.

What I didn't like:

1. Pacing. This book was slow to get started. I went in prepared to be terrified. But the first couple hundred pages were a little boring, if I'm being honest. I love character-driven stories, but this book didn't need to be almost 600 pages. I honestly don't know if I would've finished it if I hadn't been listening to it on audiobook. It's not that the characters weren't interesting. They were. And again, I enjoyed this setting. But there were so many tangential characters and subplots that strayed away from the main action a little too much. And even some of the subplots with the 'main' characters felt extraneous to me.

2. Too many characters. This can also tie into pacing, but man. There are a LOT of characters in this book, and we follow many of their perspectives. I didn't do a formal count, but we had at least 10 separate POVs, and in the beginning I had a difficult time keeping them all straight in my head, even with the phenomenal job the narrator did at differentiating voices and cadences. And I understand that this is the first in a series and they're setting up action for further books, but I'm not sure we needed to have all of these characters introduced in this book.

3. Romance. I just didn't connect with any of the romances. And I say this as someone who is a total sucker for romance in books. Theta and Memphis were kind of cute, I suppose, but there is zero basis for their relationship. It is 100% instalove. The fact that it is an interracial relationship taking place in the 1920s (something I would normally like) doesn't change that fact. I also don't ship Evie with either of the guys she has been thrown together with. I'm not really a fan of Sam's, although I sense that we're supposed to like him. And Jericho could've been so interesting, but his character fell so flat for me that I couldn't root for him either. And Evie? As much as I don't really care about either of these guys, I feel like both of them could do better than Evie. I just didn't understand what they saw in her. Sorry, not sorry.

4. Not scary. Now, I need to clarify this. There are about a hundred pages where I was truly creeped out. Near the end, as the big bad nears his endgame, there are some passages that gave me chills and made me wonder why on Earth I would choose to read this book at night when my husband wasn't at home. HOWEVER, most of the lead up to all of this didn't scare me in the slightest. I kept waiting and waiting for it to become this terrifying thing that everyone claimed it was. And just for the record: I'm a freaking scaredy cat. I chose this book because I was in the mood for something spooky. I think part of my problem was that the horrific moments weren't allowed to really breathe. Something terrible would happen and then we'd jump to the next scene. When Evie and her crew would investigate, it was more technical than emotional. There was only one death that actually affected any of our characters personally, and I didn't know either one of them well enough for it to affect me.

5. The ending was lame. After the climax, there are still around 20-30 pages left of the book. Basically it's setting up what the characters are going to be doing in book 2. I wish it had ended with a little more punch. It also didn't help matters that Evie lost any semblance of growth her character had experienced and she just became a spoiled white girl again.

I do have the second book checked out through Overdrive, but I'm not sure when I'll actually get around to it.