This is in pretty stark contrast to Apples Never Fall, which feels far tighter and interesting to this. The idea of nine strangers going to a resort to “fix” their lives is trite as it is. It turns out that it’s even less dynamic than that; much of the book takes place in a locked room that the author simply doesn’t pull off.

This has some of the worst middle book syndrome I’ve encountered. Very little to nothing happens and most everything we need to know about the characters has been established. Strangely, it does have good comedic timing and situational comedy throughout. But this tone made the overall piece feel even more disjointed to me. I’m not sure what this was actually going for.

This feels superficial and sadly only continued to navigate to the very least interesting aspects the story could have gone in. I have no idea how this would make for an interesting TV show. I own Big Little Lies and need to get to that, but so far this author is a hugely mixed bag. I loved Apples Never Fall released this year, and was close to giving this a 1 star review, despite finishing it and wishing for that time back.