Wow. This is the first one star I've given out in a hot minute. But here was so... This book is condescending, contrived, predictable, sexist, and most of all boring. Anyone with any background on any mysteries can see every twist, every angel, from pages away. The ending makes little to no sense narratively because why play the "I'm not going to tell you everything" card if you are putting together what amounts to a confessional?? It seems like the author literally just pulled the most common tropes from older mysteries and put them in this book. The lead character is literally the worst and not just because he is an unreliable narrator. It is just garbage. Hot, flaming, garbage. Absolutely nothing about this book works and the fact that the only woman in this book that Doesn't Want To Fuck The Man Character is a lesbian is just absolutely bonkers! I really don't understand what the five start reviews of this book read that I didn't I feel like this entire book was talking down to me and talking down to most mystery readers in general. Considering that people have said this is a love letter to the genre I expect it to at least have some semblance of a good plot. Instead it reads like the annoying person at a bookstore who wants to tell you why Flynn is a hack and only the books written before 1990 are any good. Do not read this book, please, I'm begging you, read literally any other book!