Quick, immersive read.  Short chapters with a fast pace kept me drawn in, finishing this book in one day.  I’d call this an escapism thriller.  (Is that a thing?  It totally should be a thing.)

 

So many questions.  So many lies.  Paris creates the perfect ambiance for this mystery.  The community should be an beautiful, exclusive haven in the poshest area of London.  Instead this gated community seems much more like a prison.  Those big, open windows in every house dictates that someone is always watching.  Yet no one seems to sees the important things.  Inside the gates, everything feels more ominous.  

 

The neighborhood’s menacing feel is enhanced by the neighbors themselves.  The secrets and lies…the spying and manipulating…just who are they really?  Alice wants to like them. She wants to trust them.  But each one seems to have a shadiness that leads her to question whether they are friend or foe.   

 

Oh Alice.  Our main character has experienced great loss.  That allowed me to overlook her obsessive and obtuse nature at first.  Loss certainly does change people.  But eventually she wore me down. On one hand, she’s entirely too trusting.  On the other, she is suspicious of everyone and paranoid about everything.  Rather than thinking logically, she overanalyzes and talks herself into some of the most ridiculous of theories while allowing important clues all around her to go unnoticed.  Ultimately, Alice’s naivety did not make her endearing.

 

The plot flows quickly.  Before I knew it, I was closing in on the big reveal.  But after the suspense mounted, the ending fell flat to me.  It made sense.  I had suspected it even.  But it wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped.  

 

The crazy thing about this book is that even through its flaws, it kept me entertained and engaged.  Maybe this is the “beach read” version of a thriller?  If you’re looking for a good escapism and favor mysteries, I’d say this is your next read.  

 

Thank you B.A. Paris, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.