It’s a great concept, but I think the book overall suffers from trying to include too much quirkiness. I think it distracts from the core original concept with the girl who can see ghosts.  I also cringe whenever I read any references to the real world like “Uber” or “TikTok” which are all references here. It just breaks my ability to immerse myself. I think the dialogue also needed work, especially when the main character talked about how great she is of a writer and how she could write a New York Times bestseller. Even if she was that good, it’s poor form. Moreover, the author seem to skip opportunities to show off her writing skills, such as highlighting her ability to switch voice. For example, the book hypes of this letter from her dad that we don’t really get to actually read, and while we get some snippets of the romance she’s writing as a ghost writer we never get to actually have any text from her first book before she was a ghost writer. Even though that book is influential in the emotional connection between two characters. Lastly, I said “it’s complicated” for having diverse characters while she may have a nonbinary innkeeper, an Asian bisexual roommate, and a gay brother, these characters weren’t really fleshed out.

I think the author should have let Ros and Dorothy’s story come through more in the letters, give them a bigger voice. The author definitely did her research. However, she forces it upon the reader. I do not need several pages about the history of a specific train track or the mines, if it’s not relevant to the plot. The juiciest part of the story with the kidnapping didn’t get enough attention, in my opinion. I will say that someone who went to Smith, the chapter on Smith’s was nice. I could appreciate some of the other references.

I think that this book is one of the best examples of a character study that I have read this year. As a native New Englander if also has a certain sense of for lack of a better word, dark charm for me. However, the book is hurtling you to this big bad moment that it hints at, but it just didn’t feel as bad as I was expecting. But honestly I might just be a spoiled reader to used to the horrifying details of murder podcasts and criminal minds. Perhaps what happened is sick enough and the author is making a subtle point that if you are looking for perversion you are no better than the spoiled rich girl not realizing her idealism has consequences.