(3.5 stars rounded up).

(Trigger warning: references of sexual assault and violence towards animals)

Moshfegh has taken the murder mystery novel and turned it on its head. It felt like reading the process of writing a mystery than reading one. The reader goes from wondering about the contents of the note to questioning the sanity of the protagonist as she obesses over the note she found.

Note: the main character, Vesta, is really fatphobic. It personally made me uncomfortable reading her disgust of overweight women. It comes up multiple times throughout.