This was dark and gritty. I enjoyed the deep dive the author took into learning about the psychology of the killers. They both had horrible childhoods and used killing as their outlet, though Xander definitely had deeper and darker reasons. Paulir just seemed like he was along for the ride. Both were horrible people.

Nell was a badass kid. She went through it, especially seeing her mom like she had to at the beginning. Angelo was a sweet old man, and I'm glad Nell found him. Though there were some descriptions about Nell's female anatomy that made me cringe. It wasn't necessary.

Valerie has some issues. I felt for her as a mother. I couldn't imagine what she went through, nor will I comment on the way she chose to handle her trauma. But I will say, in the parts of the book where she was doing her detective work, she was a boss. I enjoyed learning about her detective process and how she figured everything out in the end.

There's a lot going on in this book, and sometimes, it felt there was way too much happening at once. I did enjoy this book. I plan on continuing with the series. I'm hoping to see Valerie gain back some confidence and get back into her detective groove.