There’s something about this randomly picking up books from the library app that I really love, because I don’t think I would have ever gone to this section of a book store or looking through a library. It’s much easier to add random books to your holds and just read them when they become available after forgetting everything about why you added them in the first place.
The book follows Vera, the daughter of a convicted serial killer who has come home to her dying mother to settle things with the house once her mother finally passes. Her relationship with her mother is distant to say the least, but she also has to deal with a border, an artist and the son of the man who wrote an expose on her father’s crimes. But this old house holds secrets, as does Vera’s own past and the truth behind that final victim that got her father caught, and Vera soon finds that she is more attached to the house than she thought.
I really liked most of this book. There is a twist at the end that I think I would have liked a lot more if it had happened earlier so that it could be more thoroughly explored, because I do love a good “It wasn’t all in my head” reveal. I liked the supernatural element, but the vagueness of some of it was frustrating because I wanted to know more. It may be that as a horror story that was intentional, but I didn’t find it scary so it was a bit disappointing.
It is pretty slow at the start, including some elements that I thought would play into the story more like the people of the town wanting her gone. I think the pacing may have played into some missed opportunities to make the story feel more complete in the end. It does feel much more like a story that stops rather than ends, like there’s a lot of loose ends and like I am missing chapters that might wrap it up more fully. It doesn’t feel like it needs a sequel so much as a couple more chapters, or a five years later epilogue.
Overall, I did really enjoy the story. I just wanted a little more in the end to make it feel like it ended, even if it wasn’t over. This might be more of a genre mismatch for me, and I still had a lot of fun with the book.