I mean, it was pretty interesting while it lasted, but...

Pros:

Interesting commentary on sexual predators. The layering of then/now helped add to the interest by starting with Alice, then moving to Jake and how he was affected in his younger years, only to continue the cycle, while throwing Harry in there for good measure. Only wish the author had done more with Harry to show the possibility of breaking the cycle? But maybe he was trying to be subtle.

Alice had potential to be a fascinating character.

Spoiler

Those sociopathic traits.

Her physical beauty/attractiveness. The mystery and inaccessibility. The weird, goosebumpy talking-herself-out-of-responsibility. Ahhhh. She was shaping up to be a real fun mystery.

Cons:

Harry’s relationship to Grace, then Caitlin, feels a little forced. It was explained with Caitlin fairly well (

Spoiler

Grief makes you horny, nobody else understands what we’ve been through

), but it felt weird. Is Harry just as strange as Alice in his propensities toward the opposite sex and personality in general? A lot of mystery for a main player.

The ending was meh. I think it was a cool idea, but lacked the drama that the setup demanded. Fell flat for me. Even just her disappearing into the mist would have been cooler.

A lot of things just didn’t go anywhere.

Spoiler

Harry sleeping with Alice, then just...thinking it was cool and definitely not a problem?? Why did John leave Caitlin alive after murdering other people - he seriously just got tired??

And Alice was wasted as a character. Way too passive for somebody with such cool potential. Oh, and what was with why Alice even married Bill in the first place? That was mentioned but then...dropped. Didn’t feel like a real motivation.

Conclusion: Disappointed. Maybe it was the lackadaisical ending, but after all those switchback setups, the book fell flat. The part in the middle when the plot was thick was fun (and kinda gross), but then...meh. Oh well.