Thank you to Sourcebooks, which sent me this copy. 

Sadly this did not work for me. I made it about 17% in after trying it out on audio as the physical copy wasn’t working for me either. 

17% in and it just felt like I was experiencing word salad? It seemed that after the introduction instead of each type of unlikeable female character being introduced and explained with analysis, they were all just thrown at the reader.

By the time I decided to pause the audiobook, I felt overwhelmed by how many actresses names and movies had been thrown at me back to back. It was just one after another

I have a hard time believing that this is the writing of an award winning journalist. It felt so self righteous but also impersonal at the same time?

Right off the bat it left a sour taste in my mouth because this woman just automatically assumes the worst in all of the prisoners.

Least favorite plot device added in

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a review.

DNF @ 37%

I really thought this horror would be right up my alley with sibling relationships and a bit of supernatural horror, but I just can’t get into it. 

The changing of perspectives every chapter is startling  and we don’t even get to know each of the siblings well before we’re pulled to another POV. 

37% in and I still don’t understand the history of Calla’s nightmares or what they are. 

37% in and it felt like three separate story lines that weren’t working. One sibling has nightmares and issues at work. One has issues at school, with friends, and got into some trouble when his friends ditched him. The other one is just…there?

37% and 14 chapters in, the characters could have been more settled and defined. For so much description, there is not much clarity. 

Both the murder and supernatural scenes felt cartoony and seemed too short for how overly descriptive the rest of the book was. 

One of my friends gave this five stars so obviously it works for some people but the writing style and character development/POV change is not working for me. 

I don’t have a nice thing to say about this. It was written in the early 2000s and does not stand up to 2020s standards.

Upholds white colonialism of Africa. Upholds wars in the Middle East and the use of “defense contractors”. The part of this book that takes place in Africa, all Black people described to be either bad people or women who work as sex workers. 

The main character is the worst. She’s horrible to her parents. 

The author needed to choose a plot and stick with it instead of flipping between the hijacking and the relationship between Lilly/Jess/Peter etc 

Frida just gets on my nerves. I can read about depression, but god it’s hard to read stupidity of someone with degrees from TWO Ivy League schools. 

Thanks to Libro.fm and the publisher for the ALC. 

I think physical book will be the way to go for this one. I tried it on audio and after 10 straight minutes of repetition of chat room names, I feel like I’m going crazy. It has taken me straight out of the story. 

I think the premise is interesting, but the audio experience with the same chat room usernames constantly repeated plummeted my overall experience. 

I will consider picking this up physically once it’s released. 

Thanks to the publisher for the eGalley, but the writing is too lyrical to keep my attention. 

Also  I wish that there was an intro page or something, maybe a prologue to detail how the world became what it did? The early descriptions are so confusing

Men are stupid.

DNF @ 10% the prose is not working for me and I do not enjoy reading about people who let people cross boundaries that they set years ago.