Super scary and violent, but I enjoyed it and wanted to know how it ended.

I am clearing out my TBR, slowly reading stuff that’s been lingering, and clearly added this when I was way less sensitive to violence... it was a pretty hard read, but also pretty hard to put down at first. Then I got kind of overwhelmed and had to set it aside for a while. That said, other than the really distressing stuff, it was a fast-paced book with some deeply flawed characters that felt very real, a great sense of place, and a lot of twists and turns. I enjoyed it more than I expected, but I’m not sure I’m going to continue the series, purely due to my own old lady squeamishness (even though I also wonder what is going to happen to Valerie next).

Well, that was disturbing.

It felt like we knew a lot about the bad guys early on in the book. All the side stories were very relevant and came together at the end.

Talk about every single character needing to hit rock bottom, sheesh. Very good but never really connected with the characters.

Very suspenseful.

Even though this was a fast paced story, some parts of it could've been omitted to make it shorter. A creepy as thriller that was slightly warped

I’m afraid he might hate women?

Okay, so like, there are so many things.
#1. She doesn't have to tell him about a miscarriage. She doesn't. She really really really really doesn't. That is her body. So fuck right off with your patriarchal ownership values there. In fact, she wouldn't have to tell him if she had an abortion. So. Again, with the fucking right off.
#2. When describing a child (literally a child) you probably shouldn't like call her undies "panties." Children wear underwear. Preferably underoos. But like, calling them panties unduly sexualizes them.
#3. The trope of the abusive mother creating the psychopath, so like, poor lil psychopath he had a bad mom... that's. Well, the psychology there needs some better investigation. Preferably investigation that isn't complete pop psychology and/or misogynist. Or misogynist pop psychology.
#4. The woman says "Oh it's that time of the month" as an explanation for her state of distress, to a relative stranger. What the absolute fuck? I have no idea who this man hangs out with, but the women in his life... I don't want to say they need to educate him, cause that's not on them, but he needs to educate himself. And make some friends who menstruate.
#5. He writes about how the child is growing up, from being a child, to a teen, to her "womanhood." Not adulthood. Just like, womanhood. Cause. Why?
#6. Just generally I feel that the writing glories in violence and sexual violence on women's bodies. That's the spectacle. It's the written equivalent of torture porn, and he's commercializing that spectacle.

It was also (and this is like, a minor issue) too fucking long. This individual needs a better editor.

I just did not enjoy this at all. The writing pissed me off. The characters pissed me off. The whole thing just pissed me off. For a serial killer book I also feel like not a lot happened.