This was such a good read. And while it does have some very anxiety inducing scenes, in typical Chuck Tingle form, there are some very poignant themes and thoughts sprinkled throughout the narrative, like: life's balance between knowledge and faith, identity and how mutable it is, real evil is done with intention (sometimes even best intentions), sometimes your family won't choose you but you can always choose your found family, and as always: love and acceptance.

Pros:

🪰 Some of that horror really did make me squeamish, but not because it was "in-your-face" offensive. Just tense and sometimes gross.

🪰 MC is gay and autistic - she displays hyperfocus tendencies and has her own soothing rituals, which honestly sometimes made ME feel better, too lol. Anyway, she is portrayed really well as she struggles with faith, the loss of faith, and coming to terms with her identity.

🪰 A very thoughtful approach to the insidiousness of hatred in institutions (the church in this case). That there is no black and white message that "all religion is evil or good" makes it more compelling to examine your own thoughts and values.

Cons:

🪰 Minor pacing issues, but most of them I think occur in places that don't affect tension buildup for the thriller/spooky stuff.

🪰 Marina was forgotten maybe a bit too soon.

🪰 Had alcohol instead of chocolate milk.

this is a joke and not a real con unless you are very rigid on your tingleverse canon, which would be understandable