The amount of issues Cooper has at simple communication ruined this book for me. Which was a big disappointment because the first was an 5/5.

The level of issues Cooper is showing is on the level of being neurotic in my opinion. The unsureness and insecurity that made sense in book 1 didn't make sense in book 2 when there had been a time skip of several months of them basically living together and the frequent amount of sex that was mentioned.

What made sense when getting feelings in a professional setting and being unsure if it's returned, made sense in book 1.

Several fucks, several "I love you" during Sex, several months of being together? It doesn't. Being unable to go "yo so what are we?" is bizarre to me.

Honestly I don't often think a fictional character can do better, but Park can do better.

This entire book was Cooper being super angsty about Park not liking him, or loving him, or wanting to be with him. And then trying to push Park away. Often with explosive outbursts and more non-communication.

I liked the beginning of this. I really did.

When the main character, Daniel, gets told to show up at Jekyll & Hyde Inc because they can turn him into a monster so he can hunt other monsters in his quest for revenge. It was a fairly suspicious timing how Daniel decided to show up on the exact day where he would be extremely helpful in destroying an entire monster family. Suspicious, but there was already someone prepping for that mission so it was kind of okay. He'd be extra muscle!

But then Daniel and Tina jump into bed together, and spend several days in each others arm and only drags their asses back to Jekyll & Hyde Inc because they wouldn't want the Boss to show up on their doorstep looking for them. Mind you, this happened twice in the book. And both times, they arrive at the Boss Man's lair and get told their timing is perfect because TODAY of ALL DAYS with NO WARNING is when another monster family is having their annual gathering and they can go wipe out another monster family.

I am.. speechless at this decision by Simon R. Green. Who is an author I've read and enjoyed before. Why have this major plot hole when an unobtrusive text from the boss man, or his assistant, would have had the same effect without it seeming like this was written by a toddler.

And let us not ignore the fact that they spent the entire books saying how they were going to need to deal with the boss man at the end of the book because he was ALSO a monster who was up to no good just for them to be *gasp* betrayed! and then have an conversation about how "well I suppose we gotta kill him now" as if they hadn't been planning that from THE VERY BEGINNING!

I'm very lukewarm on this one.
I generally adore serial killers. Fictional ones atleast. This one? Not so much.

Where do I even start?
What about the mystical imaginary fog that Cordelia sees in peoples eyes that confirms they're predators? A peculiar trait that seemed a little supernatural but is probably only an extreme case of delusion from Cordelia's part. The first half of this book was so hyperfocused on this, just for it to completely vanish and not even get mentioned in the second half.

How about how Cordelia keeps repeating the same key points about her past? The book could easily be 100 pages less if we just cut that fat. I don't need to be told three or four times that it was "Mama's boyfriend Tim.." that taught her how to use a knife.

Or how about how incredible inconsistent this story was? Cordelia was set up as being super focused on being in control, and in planning everything down to the last detail. And being smarter than the monsters. And, obviously, the story is about how everything unravels when things start not going according to plans. But the things that were going wrong seemed so obvious. Like, of course the single person that deals with your dead bodies might get compromised. What do you do then? It's bizarre to me that Cordelia never considered it. You might add this to Cordelia being delusional but it felt more like a plothole.

I'm also pretty sure that Joanie's identity was meant to be a twist but it was rather obvious who Joanie was from the start.

There is also a whole relationship with a cop that was investigating her murders that just vanished toward the end. They kiss, and then done. No calls. No text. Not even an mention of ghosting or anything. He just vanishes from the story without any additional details. The last scene with him even had Cordelia being sad that the kiss wasn't-that-great because she still needed intel from him.

The only thing I really liked about this book is Diane and her kid. Okay, Diane should put more faith in her best friend and her kid. Neither liked her new boyfriend and she refused to listen or see that. But, she wanted her happy ending and that probably made her ignore some red flags. Who haven't been there?

I loved the friendship there. And I loved Diane's reaction at the end. But Cordelia was a story of someone who was extremely delusional yet the author completely ignored any opportunity to lean into an unreliable narrator plotline which made the entire thing feel bland, obvious and predictable.

I thank Netgalley for giving me this oppertunity to review the book. I'm sad I didn't enjoy it more.

I did not enjoy this as much as I enjoyed Dead Silence.
I severely disliked the first 30% of this book and it took me multiple times before managing to get through it. It hooked me around the 50% tho and kept me glued to the pages. Tho the ending is a little.. lackluster.

Still, space horror is my thing. I wish Ophelia was easier to like, earlier. I wish half the book wasn't piece meal feeding us so much about her past. I wish the crew wasn't as hostile, and dislikable, to her presence. I wish the "big bad mystery" she was trying to solve (before the horror actually happened) wasn't as boring and mundane as it turned out to be.

I'll still read S.A.Barnes next book, I think my biggest dislike of this book was Ophelia and her profession. Every interaction she had with the other crew members were controlled and fake, because as a professional she couldn't possible speak her mind.