4.5 stars.

This was my second Riley Sager read and I'm definitely a fan. This is a fantastically gothic novel with a well executed premise and the additional fun of being a book within a book type setup. I was hooked pretty early on with this one simply because of this premise and trope combination, but the writing absolutely did not disappoint.

Things move at a good and comfortable pace with just enough supernatural feel to keep the reader on edge. There is excellent creation of a dark and mysterious atmosphere. It was not necessarily a freezer book for me, but there were moments that definitely sketched me out a little. There's a mild scare factor and pieces of the book will generate nightmare fodder for some readers.

There are some bits that do (admittedly) feel a little tropey, but that didn't cause me much pause. Supporting characters are a bit flat, but the protagonist is well-written and does well as the focus of the novel. Keeping the other characters a bit in shadow worked for me and just seemed to add a little bit of that unknown factor to the plot. I had a lot of speculations along the way. Some were right, some were wrong, and some were on the right track. The "twist" wasn't overly shocking, but wasn't one that I really saw coming. I just had a good time with this read. It was one of those books I couldn't wait to get back to and I definitely recommend it.