Eh, I was underwhelmed by this one. The premise is cool though— a street and all of its inhabitants disappear one night and the only people who can make it through the wall of haze are the 3 teens who got away.

I found the pacing to be off immediately. There wasn’t enough time for me to get to know the characters before we were in the action and I could have used more backstory about the street and surrounding town up front. For something like this I think excerpts from newspaper articles could
Have worked.

I also didn’t like the relationship between Talitha and Brett. It didn’t feel natural, or I guess I don’t know why they fell in love. It felt more like a plot device and less like a real relationship.

The whole book felt very Night Vale/Alice Isn’t Dead, and I loved that aspect of it. I just think the actual story telling portion could have been better.

And there are a few other dumb things that stuck out to me that made me:
—the stepdad is named Samuel and the kids favorite toy is named Sam. One of those names needs to change.
— the two brothers are never referred to by name until the very end. Either give them names earlier on or just continue to refer to them as “Grace’s brothers”
— I’ve never seen the word “sallow” used so many times in one book
— I constantly read Brett’s name and thought she was a guy. And then I couldn’t remember who this guy was.

I was given an advanced copy for review, all thoughts are entirely my own. Thank you Saga Press and NetGalley for the opportunity.