I don't know why Ware thinks that a main character with zero interpersonal skills having "trauma" over nothing is the necessary basis for a thriller, but she's wrong.

The whole premise of the horror aspect is that Nora is mad at Clare because at 26, Clare is engaged to the guy Nora dated for 6 months when they were 15. And the big reveal is so stupid I was actually mad

Nora got pregnant, James panicked, so she got an abortion, and they just literally never spoke again which is so dumb I canNOT. It would be one thing if she was devastated over the abortion itself but she says that she doesn't care and it never comes up again and she spends the entire book whinging about this guy

. In the immortal words of Chrissy Chlapecka, He's not the love of your life. He's just a guy. Hit him with your car.