I dealt with the narration better in this one; I feel like Ernest's voice became a little more likable, a little less, "Look at me!" but the hook of these books is that it's an Average Joe solving these murders and while the idea of residual trauma and survivor's guilt was mentioned... it wasn't actually present. There's an almost throwaway conversation between Ernest and Juliette (and don't get me started on how unrealistic she is; she is a prop from start to finish) about his survivor's guilt but that's about it, there's no real grief to him. Again, mentions of emotional depths that aren't there with Juliette saying she knows the past year has been hard for him but... we're in Ernest's head, all of the time, we're constantly treated to asides from him so for that to be as much as we get on that? Weaksauce, y'know? It doesn't read as a real guy in the middle of a murderpalooza. It reads as a very fictionalized wannabe-lovable goof with general low stakes-vibes in a manufactured high stakes situation.

Again, the mystery and solve itself were quite good but the narration got in the way - in a different way for me than in the first book, but still in the way.