nerdyprettythings's Reviews (515)

On paper, I should have loved this book. Spooky atmosphere, supernatural/sci-fi elements, smart female protagonist. But it’s just boring. The set up starts with cutting a party short and only introducing us to the MC, and that’s pretty much how the rest of the book goes. She has one conversation with her dad, barely speaks to the cousin she’s going to rescue (including not having spoken to her much recently so we can’t get a feel for their relationship). I want to love it because the end WAS interesting, but it’s like this - imagine the bride in the movie Ready or Not spent the first hour and a half or so walking around the house going “man something feels off about this place.” By the time I got any information and was finally rooting for the characters, I just wanted the book to be over.

Wow wow wow wowoww. This book is short, but just like poetry, every word packs a punch. I highly recommend the audiobook!

This book is really bad. It feels as though the author did the research to write a non-fiction book about disease, and then decided to throw some narrative stuff in there to get us plebs to read it. The story is a knockoff Dan Brown book, but only if Dan Brown constantly assured us that there were people back home that Robert Langdon really really wants to get back to, super promise he cares... after he hops on this next flight to Spain and gets settled back at the office in a few weeks. Don't call him, he'll call you. Everything that could have annoyed me about a book is present here - There's a woman who has been completely abandoned by her husband, seemingly not for the first time, but is obsessed with him and thinks he's the better parent. There's COMPLETELY unnecessary to the "plot" sexual violence against a child. There's this line about the MC's children (while his daughter is actively taking care of the son and has been the one keeping them alive): "They were so unalike. He was smart and self-contained and she was pretty and popular." I nearly DNF'd several times. If you want an apocalypse book, try The Fifth Season. If you want a pandemic book, try Station Eleven! Do anything other than read this book.

This book wasn’t super complex, and I thought about 3.5/rounding down stars, but - I was hooked, and from early on I wanted to finish this book and find out what happened. What more do you want from a thriller?

This book is freaking brilliant. It's a genius original concept and executed so well. I'm so excited that there's a sequel, I can't wait to get back into this universe. Genius, this book is genius. Highly recommend!