this was fun and i think i will go back to this after listening to the podcast (which yes i read this book before listening to any of the podcast that this book is based on, i am just not a podcast person!) and i would guess it would make this book even better because the background stuff makes more sense. 

rating and reviewing it without knowing any of the podcast storylines: this was good. 


it’s an entertaining and well done mystery, sometimes pretty brutal but not horrifically so. 


i do find the ages of main characters and their behavior as well as the acceptance of the adults of what they are doing a bit strange (my mom sure as hell wouldn’t have let me wander of trying to solve a murder or hunt after a hidden treasure that people got killed for with a smile and a wave! especially if another case went mostly belly up (the whole killer stuff from the podcast that i am missing the background stuff off but could puzzle together well enough with the details given in this book)).

would i found this more enjoyable and believable if the characters would been 18+ or in their 20s? yes. absolutely. 
but oh well. 


the mystery and murder aspects of the book were okay and mostly well done and i did enjoy how it all wrapped up for the most parts. 


it’s definitely Ancrum‘s writing style that carried me through this book for some parts of it, since some sections were completely and utterly unbelievable and too over the top with how a whole town tried to solve a riddle for years and years and people got killed but nobody solved and then some small group of people from the town decided enough was enough and just erased the entire thing by taken away books and maps … and people just went with it? they just talked about of people killed to get the clues and all of a sudden it didn’t matter anymore? 
mhm. 

so this wasn’t the best thriller/mystery nor the any way or form the most realistic one. 

but overall it was fun and a pretty quick read so there is that. 

as i said i am guessing the actual podcast lethal lit would have added layers (hopefully?) that might have made this a bit better. 


as it stands: good and entertaining but not a must read and in my opinion not the best of ancrum‘s works by a long shot but not bad either. 

take from that what you will.