content warnings:

Spoiler

major character death, on-page murder (drowning, asphyxiation), attempts to induce miscarriage, attempted infanticide & [successful] murder of a child, child deaths (anaphylaxis, drowning), blood, minor gore, precanon parent death (cancer), grief, mentioned suicide, mention of marital rape (spouse in coma), somnophilia, infidelity, explicit sexual content, ableism (towards child with Aspergers; coma patient), child neglect, unconscious self-harm while sleepwalking

I actually found this mildly creepy and disturbing instead of just boring so at least there's that? (For some reason I scare really easily with horror movies, but that doesn't translate to thriller novels.)

That said, this was more can't look away from the trainwreck than I want the MC to survive and triumph. Lowen does her fair share of shady selfish scheming, so I didn't care very much for her as a character; not sure if this is intentional, but in any case her methodology does at least make things more tense.

Although I didn't see the final twist coming, I think it's more because I don't really read this genre than because it was clever or original. It did make me startle and pause to process, but unfortunately its impact was undermined by an ending that kind of just trails off, leaving too many unsatisfying unanswered questions and threads that ultimately led nowhere.

(Yes, I'm familiar with the concept of a red herring, but there's a difference between a false lead and foreshadowing that is never realized. In my opinion, this book had more of the latter than the former.)

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CONVERSION: 7.9 / 15 = 3 stars

Prose: 4 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 3 / 10
Emotional Impact: 7 / 10
Development / Flow: 5 / 10
Setting: 8 / 10

Diversity & Social Themes: N/A
Intellectual Engagement: 3 / 5
Originality / Trope Execution: N/A
Rereadability: N/A
Memorability: 2 / 5