A twisted, hypnotic tale of horror about everlasting beauty, Rouge reminds me immensely of the film Suspiria (the 2018 re-imagined remake by Luca Guadagnino), both in its aesthetic (gothic, eerily beautiful) as well as narrative structure (a slow-burn mystery descends into full-blown hysteria). Mona Awad is known for creating an engrossing ambiance, and Rouge maintains that literary excellence with fusion of fairy tale imagery, film noir, Hollywood glam, and commentary on beauty standard.

While Rouge conjures up memorable vignettes (the cryptic cover art hits different once you know what it represents), and the writing is consistently visceral, at times even downright chilling (there's a recurring motif of words being replaced, seemingly by error, by similar-sounding words, which actually insinuate further subtext), the novel crumbles slightly when it comes to its closing act. By clearly defining certain events as reality, it loses the hazy ambiguity it has been constructing throughout (Is it all just a hallucination?), and making its logic that much easier for scrutiny (how can something so outrageous happen without alarming the neighborhood/ police?), resulting in dampening the effectiveness of its overall narrative.

Still, the majority of Rouge has me completely hooked in its dream logic world. Personally I find this to be even more immersive comparing to her last effort, All's Well (which I already quite enjoyed). This really solidifies Mona Awad as a must-read author—looking forward to the next one!

**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**