4.1/5. This book really took me by surprise. I went into the book not expecting much, having literally judged a book by its cover and its synopsis. I really wish the author had chosen a more impactful title, 'Call Me Evie' really doesn't do its contents justice.

I'm also not a fan of mysteries and have never read one that I've liked, since the grand plot twists have been predictable and overdone. I was, however, unable to predict the ending of this book.

The red herring of Willow's dad got me completely and dispersed all other theories of who Jim could be. I hadn't even considered that Jim's relationship to Kim could be platonic, especially with Jim taking naked photos of Kate and the kisses. That detail being introduced to the reader so early-on in the book was absolute genius; it set a false premise to their relationship wonderfully and made the ending that much more confusing.

As I'm writing this, I just realized another way the nature of their relationship was implied. Jim asks Kate for a kiss at some point and Kate interprets his request at face value, having forgotten Jim was her father. She on goes to kiss him on the lips but Jim diverts the kiss to his cheek. I remember thinking that scene was odd given how I assumed Jim to be Willow's dad and therefore romantic/sexual, but now it makes sense.

Kate being an unreliable narrator worked wonderfully with the mystery. The book ends with her left in the dark about the reality of Thom's murder, dismissing her flashbacks and resurfacing memories as falsehoods fabricated by her father. She'll never know that she's a murderer.

Her father's true intentions will never be revealed to her too, which is alright because her dad's an abusive & mentally unhinged jerk. To prevent his daughter from being hurt, he hurt her instead. Tragic. Although, I would have loved to see Kate's reaction to learning that her dad framed self for her. The conclusion felt a bit abrupt, but that abruptness left me thinking about the book for hours. One question I still have is, who circled the letters in Kate's book and warned her not to trust Jim? I thought that someone had been taken captive before Kate and that victim knew Jim would strike again, but there was no one else. (Update: I checked Goodreads Q&A and it was Kate's mom who allegedly left the message. I don't understand why her mother would leave a coded message to herself? The 'death is the only escape' line makes sense since she killed herself, but I think the circling the letters is a bit of a stretch.)

Willow's character seemed all over the place at times, I still don't know what to think of her. At first I thought she was really cool with her whole vengeful personality but all in all, she doesn't contribute much to the plot besides having a dad. She does reveal Kate's scars to a bunch of strangers, which kind of leads to Kate getting closer to Thom and the sex tape ultimately getting created, but not really. If she didn't exist, the story wouldn't really be affected. The red herring dad could just be some librarian or teacher, and Thom and Kate would have gotten into a relationship sooner. It would have been nice if she alone had more plot significance.

All in all, this was a really satisfying thriller. It felt all over the place at times and I still don't really understand the thing with Iso and his family (I'll reread it and update this) and the town conspiring against Kate, but the conclusion was worth it.