The premise of this story is fascinating, and Kiste's prose can be quite beautiful at times (reminiscent of the Virgin Suicides, which fit well with a horror frame). Her characters all felt extremely flat to me, and unfortunately that took me out of the story too much to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. The side characters were all propped-up clichés that were either Good or Bad (mostly the latter). The main character showed no arc to demonstrate growth or self-awareness of her own flaws, a missed opportunity given the dual timeline structure covering Phoebe's late adolescence and adulthood.