3.5 stars ( )

3.5 stars. This is probably my favorite of Ruth Ware's books, but it felt like it needed some editing. I love the spooky Gothic mystery, the family secrets, the way no one seems the likely villain until the end. ( )

Ruth Ware out did her self with this book, like holy smokes it was thrilling, suspenseful and amazing. No spoliers from me, just read the book. ( )

A nice solid mystery. Good number of fairly sympathetic characters.atmospheric, with the tarot touches providing both a plausible background for the character and occasional plot assists ( )

I truly enjoyed a lot of this book! I liked the main character, Hal, a smart and resourceful young women who decides to fake her way into a family will. I liked the settings, from the salty Brighton beaches to the rundown family manor house. And I liked the tarot talk, and the ongoing themes of crafting ones own “luck” and really understanding what’s in the cards.
That being said, I felt like the Big Mystery got a little lost in the works. It was only a couple chapters after Hal meets the whole family that I had a pretty good idea of what happened (I was right) and I feel like there just weren’t any other options to what it could have been. The first half of the book is stronger in this respect; most of the tension evaporates after that point. This is more of a slow burning family suspense drama that it is a straight up mystery, and I think I went into it with different expectations.


SPOILERS AHEAD FOR REST OF REVIEW!!

To be perfectly honest, one of the biggest reasons for why I didn’t like it was because it reminded me of my least favorite book of all time, “Flowers in the Attic”. I loathe books that try to romanticize incest, and I felt that happening here. Not only did this plot point become easy to figure out, it was just kind of wrapped up in the end with all the family shrugging and being like “Welp, what can ya do? Incest just happens!” Frankly, if it had been ANY other thing that incest then this would have been a 4-star book for me, but again, I just hate incest plots in general soooooo🤷🏻‍♀️ ( )