2/9/19 Review: 3.5 stars? I thought the first book was incredible, the second was a great follow-up, and the third was... fine. It went in a direction I didn't expect and didn't really care for. In the end there was a satisfying enough conclusion, but I'm still left wishing it had been better.

9/22/22 Review: Dropping my review down to 2 stars on this re-read. I still agree with my past review that the direction of the story wasn't to my preference, but more than that I think there are two main problems with this third book's format.

Slight spoilers for the series as a whole, no plot or details for this novel.

First is that the epistolary format is pushed past believability. Epistolary novels generally require some suspension of disbelief as to how all the action is recorded. The first two novels did a great job with primarily taking place as interviews, with phone calls, media transcripts, etc to supplement. This book largely takes place without the ability to record at all and with little to no explanation for how events are being "recorded".

Second is that records are presented out of order. This book was shuffled between "present day" and flashback scenes throughout the book. Of course I understand why this was done from a plot standpoint, but it's another divergence in format. The previous books were told linearly and had no problem maintaining tension or withholding information as needed. This felt sloppy and again pushed against the suspension of disbelief for the novel.

Both of these points together make the third book very different from the rest of the series and it really suffers for it. It's disappointing that such an excellent 2/3 of a series has such a weak ending.

Additionally, believe all other reviews that complain about the audiobook cast change. The full cast is a wonderful effect that enriches the books greatly, but a character was re-cast for the third book and her accent is atrocious and incredibly distracting to the book.