so this was slow as heck... it took way to long to get exciting/grab my interest. too much plot that wasn't moving the story along and i was getting bored! wanted to put it down a handful of times. nothing is very clear throughout the book, especially at the beginning. it was all very vague and i had so many questions! i usually like unknown factors, but i was very annoyed by how little was revealed in each chapter and how painfully slow it took to get to the climax of the story. and when things did finally happen i felt like it was weird. it didn’t make a ton of sense for me and there were also secondary characters that seemed to serve no purpose in the story in the end. the story was too messy and clunky for me and left me going, what the heck, but not in a good way. i do have a positive note! one thing i liked about this book was the concept of memory and how it can be manipulated and changed throughout time. this just wasn't for me! but i do see many positive reviews on this book and i do understand why.. but in the end it was just too slow for me to keep me interested ( )

I finished this because I wanted to know what happens, not because I was particularly intrigued or invested.

Really weird portrayal of rural NZ. No reasoning given for the massive distrust of the police. Odd. ( )

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4

CW: Significant and necessary spoiler alert mother committed suicide when Kate was young and the book describes the scene where they find her in a bath with red tinged water. It is quite an intensely emotional scene. Father is fearful that Kate will take her own life and methods are mentioned. Revenge sex tape is shared, inappropriate adult/teen relationship, bullying, child abuse.

Well that was a bit stressful in parts.

The tension was incredibly well done and as the story unfolded I increasingly felt nervous about the potential paths the book could go down. I enjoy an unreliable narrator story and I think this part was done well. I loved that it was set in NZ, however I wish this had played more of a part in the story. Aside from some references, you didn't really get a sense of the location. We are talking about a country with some incredibly remote places and it would have heightened the tension if this sense of isolation was played up a bit more. I see some people felt there were some seemingly unnecessary parts in the 'before' timeline and during my reading I felt the same. However, it wasn't until I reached the end where it all clicked as to how necessary that build up was. Whilst there is a significant content warning I have decided to keep the two copies we have on order because I think this will be excellent for NZ Year 12 and 13 students looking for a well written, quick and tense read. I will be clear to direct them to the content warnings. ( )

Back copy and setting is what drew me to this title. Being kept in the dark with characters behaving in seemingly nonsensical ways doesn't bother me as a reader if the reveal explains the preceding events/behaviors. Unfortunately, this one did not. Add to that heavy doses of harmful/offensive tropes and this falls squarely in the do not recommend. ( )

This was tough going for about 3/4 of the book. I get what the writer was going for, you are supposed to learn everything as the story unfolds, but the vagueness just made it hard to stay interested. The ending was very anticlimactic. There were too many unanswered questions and the entire plot line was rather weak.

It was ok.....not the worse I've read lately....but not one I'd recommend. ( )