I wanted to fix her. Without wishing to sound boastful, I felt uniquely qualified to help Alicia Berenson.

Oh this fucking book.

My hold for the digital book was taking a hot second so I ended up listening to the audiobook instead. If you’re curious- the narration is great! We’ve got two narrators for our two main characters. Both are wonderful!

However, I came super close to DNFing this book at 18% as I listened to Theo (our psychotherapist who wants to fix Alicia) go on about his sex life and beloved Kathy. He still goes on about Kathy later in the book (its important to the plot), but it gets more tolerable.

Anyway.

This picked up at about 30% for me and I eventually found myself enjoying and engaged with the book. Theo as a character is a bit creepy and the twist isn’t going to be some massive shock, but it was done in a way that still allowed me to appreciate the twist.

Overall, I don’t think I would’ve resumed this book if it wasn’t for the narration so I’ll go with 3.5.

“She says you have to leave. The rest of us can stay, but you have to get out. She doesn’t want a junkie in her house.”

White Smoke explores the intersection of gentrification and racism through the eyes of a character who views herself as an unreliable narrator in a book that is a combination of horror and thriller.

Our lead, Mari, struggles with adjusting to her new life in Cedarville after her family relocates for her mom’s new job. Mari is a recovering addict and blames her family’s need to relocate on her overdose after attempting to self medicate with drugs.

You see, ever since a horrible bed bug infestation- Mari sees them everywhere. Crawling on her, biting her…

So when creepy things start happening in her home Mari isn’t sure she is actually seeing what she’s seeing.

The door clicks, creaking open. I’ve grown accustomed to the creepiness . . . until it slams shut.

And her annoying stepsister Piper? She’s talking about an imaginary friend who wants Mari out of the house.

But it’s often hard for Mari to focus on what’s happening at her house when the town holds so many secrets. Including riots incited by city officials who have little regard for the primarily black citizens of their town.

“Well, he convinced them white folks that weed would turn people into addicts who would rob, loot, and kill, and they all believed his dumb ass. He dedicated the entire city’s budget to ‘cleaning the streets.’ Everyone in the Wood was getting swept up. Police were riding around like an army, walking into houses, offices, restaurants, schools, hospitals with no warrants. After the first wave, they started getting greedy, planting drugs on folks . . . like my pops. Pops never smoked a day in his life, but they somehow found an ounce on him. I once read this stat that said in the two years after them Sterling Laws kicked in, the prison population grew nine hundred percent. That’s why they had to build them giant blocks you could see from a mile away.”

I’ll admit- I wasn’t crazy about this book in the beginning. While Mari’s lack of response to weird situations was understandable due to her history it was often frustrating. It was slow initially and relationships between Mari and her new friends- especially Yusef - felt hollow. She wasn’t really giving anyone a reason to be so into her so his fascination and interest in her rang hollow.

However, things picked up after about 40% and I did really enjoy the second half of the book!

I particularly enjoyed Mari’s relationship with her younger brother Sammy. You can see how they do both genuinely love each other and strive to protect each other for different reasons.

This book also did a good job of viewing all sides of the characters and peeling them back layer by layer to see their true depths. This is done in a particularly interesting way with Mari’s white stepfather and stepsister (mostly the stepsister, Piper).

In regards to the horror aspect, I think it was fairly decent. The book is still more of a thriller rather than horror, but there are definitely some pretty creepy and tense scenes! Particularly the scene with Sammy and Mari in the closet.

This is definitely worth the read despite the slow start. 4 out of 5! (less) [edit] | Feb 08, 2022[edit]

I debated on giving this a three, if only because it didn’t send me into a rage spiral like other two star books have. However, I think my complete lack of feelings toward this book prove that it isn’t worth three stars.

A cast of supremely unlikable characters head out to a vacation spot in the woods for a hen party that results in a murder and hospitalization for most of the crew.

Our main character- Nora, is a pathetic 26 year old who is still heartbroken over her teenage boyfriend who broke up with her through text. She was so destroyed by this text that she left school and her friends behind without saying a word to anyone. This supremely traumatic event has prevented Nora from becoming a functioning adult who has meaningful relationships with others.

Girl is a fucking wreck.

Then you’ve got Claire- Nora’s childhood BFF that she ditched after being dumped and hasn’t spoken to in 10 years. Claire’s current BFF, Flo, emails Nora to invite both Nora and her old friend Nina to Claire’s hen party! 

First of all, Nora choosing to actually go to this party seems out of character for him. Whatever- they go! 

And stick around for the lamest bachelorette party ever! Along with Claire’s friends Tom and Meredith (who is the only reasonable one and bails ASAP) Nora and Nina suffer through multiple tense moments with Flo as she tries to give Claire the party she deserves. 

And this book then follows a very predictable plot that makes you roll your eyes and wonder how these people have managed to make it through adulthood thus far.

I am sitting in front of the screen, slightly in awe because this book was simultaneously AMAZING and INFURIATING! That ending just about did me in. I could feel my heart dropping into my stomach as I kept reading.

There are so many things I could say in regards to praise for this book, but they are all just a liiiitttle dampened by the end. The narrator did <b>WARN ME</b> that they were unreliable, but <b>STILL</b> my HEART. Don’t fall in love with any of these characters because

absolutely nothing is what it seems. 

Seriously- throughout the book I just couldn’t get over these characters, their interactions with one another… I mean hell, I called Cvetka a cinnamon roll.

I feel the rage, almost comforting in its familiarity, blossoming up inside of me and obliterating everything else in its wake.”

The Guest List is hard to describe in that there is just way too much going on.

Character A committed this misdeed with Character B and Character B has a bad attitude, but Character A is the real bad guy because of X, Y, Z. Character C hates Character A and Character C is related to Character…. You see what I’m talking about here? It just goes on and on and on.

Stick to a couple plot lines and stop throwing them all at me!

There are no lovable characters in this book. No one to root for. They’re all mean, bitter people who are hiding secrets and bad habits. You might at least feel sympathetic toward Olivia and Hannah. Hell, even Aoife is a sympathetic character despite the lack of character development.

Now, this wasn’t terrible to listen to- in fact I loved all the different narrators who brought this book to life. However, that doesn’t make up for the lack of vision and jumbled storylines that left me feeling frustrated in the end.

I’m going back and forth between a 2 and 3 simply because I did enjoy listening, but the story is so frustrating. I’m going to go with a 2.5 rounded up here.