Anyone who grew up “different” in a toxic small town will resonate with this story. It definitely drew me in from the very first chapter. The writing was surprisingly good (not that I expected it to be bad but it’s always a bit of a gamble when you pick up something on KU by an author you’ve never heard of). The pacing lagged a bit in the middle—I often found myself wondering why some scenes were included when nothing seemed to happen that really furthered the plot—but I found myself wanting to push through regardless because I really did care about the characters.

Even having finished the book I’m not 100% sure what was going on,

like the whole thing with Founder Jim and the original Bulldeen, the nature of the curse, the role of the creature, etc.

but I still thought it had a satisfying conclusion. 

Not entirely sure how I’m meant to feel about the cop character to be honest, but I never felt endeared to her. Are we supposed to like her just because she aids the protagonists? Yet she also casually mentions how she helped keep a sex criminal out of jail because he was related to a fellow cop and “family is family?” Idk, man… ACAB.