Rachel Caine: Stillhouse Lake (Paperback, 2019, Karakter Uitgevers B.V.)
Paperback, 347 pages
Published July 15, 2019 by Karakter Uitgevers B.V..
That was quite interesting a strong female character who does not instantly know everything and kick arse, actually frequently she is still and idiot who trusts to easily. She was a great mix of fierce and still just a scared normal human.
Some of the plot was to easy to guess like who the bad guy was and hated the cliffhanger ending.
I enjoyed enough to read the next one.
Good narration.
I struggled with rating 2 or 3 stars but decided to round up because I did really enjoy a good chunk of the book. The premise is interesting and laid out well. The author ramped up the tension and kept me engaged up until around 170 pages in. After that, I had a mess of problems with what was going on. I'll be vague so I don't give anything away...
My biggest problems were with how blind Gwen seems to be and the insanity that was the local police/detective investigation and treatment of Gwen and her family.
I was screaming at Gwen for two of the big things that end up being pretty dang important and felt fairly obvious. So either the author laid the foreshadowing on too heavily for the reader, made her protagonist intentionally dense, or I'm incredibly smart. I don't think it's the third option.
As for …
I struggled with rating 2 or 3 stars but decided to round up because I did really enjoy a good chunk of the book. The premise is interesting and laid out well. The author ramped up the tension and kept me engaged up until around 170 pages in. After that, I had a mess of problems with what was going on. I'll be vague so I don't give anything away...
My biggest problems were with how blind Gwen seems to be and the insanity that was the local police/detective investigation and treatment of Gwen and her family.
I was screaming at Gwen for two of the big things that end up being pretty dang important and felt fairly obvious. So either the author laid the foreshadowing on too heavily for the reader, made her protagonist intentionally dense, or I'm incredibly smart. I don't think it's the third option.
As for the investigation, the way the detective in charge dealt with Gwen and the investigation had me yelling BS. I won't even go into the holes in situation with Kez. There's about 50 or so pages between the 170 and the end of the book that made me want to toss my kindle in the trash. But that's ridiculous because it's my kindle... But I held on, cursing internally.
The exciting climax was good and calmed me down a bit but, ultimately, I don't care enough to keep going with the sequel.
What to rate? Oh what to rate! I am so torn. I really liked it, even though I wasn't a huge fan of Gwen. I like gritty, what would you do, scary situations. I like to think, "would I do that?" She made some questionable decisions in my book, but I get it.
I stayed engaged in the mystery. I wanted to know more, and it was unwrapped a little at a time. However, there were a few too many things thrown together for my liking. A few questions left unanswered (probably to get you to read book 2). And some overly telegraphed plot points, which I won't list here for fear of spoiling you. But yes, I guessed the bad guy from the first introduction. The red herrings were not convincing enough for me, so I never suspected them at any point.
I know I sound like I didn't …
What to rate? Oh what to rate! I am so torn. I really liked it, even though I wasn't a huge fan of Gwen. I like gritty, what would you do, scary situations. I like to think, "would I do that?" She made some questionable decisions in my book, but I get it.
I stayed engaged in the mystery. I wanted to know more, and it was unwrapped a little at a time. However, there were a few too many things thrown together for my liking. A few questions left unanswered (probably to get you to read book 2). And some overly telegraphed plot points, which I won't list here for fear of spoiling you. But yes, I guessed the bad guy from the first introduction. The red herrings were not convincing enough for me, so I never suspected them at any point.
I know I sound like I didn't enjoy it, but I really did. You should read it. I'm going to land on 3.5 stars, but not sure if I'm rounding up or down yet.
