The description and the fact that the author's previous book was in my best of the year list for 2021 made me excited to read this book. My excitement began to dwindle within the first few chapters due to the slow pace and unlikable characters.

Rob is married to an abusive man with whom she shares two daughters. One of the daughters has strange mannerisms and frightening habits.

I understand there are a great many women who stay trapped in abusive relationships but Rob did not share any of the reasons a woman would usually stay. Rob has access to money and a car and a job and the ability to leave. Most abusers start out sweet as pie, but Rob's husband Irving was an obviously creepy person long before she married him and she knew it. By the time the reason for her marriage is disclosed the book is over.

Rob had a very unconventional upbringing but I will not go into detail because I don't think you are meant to know about it until the middle of the book, which was another problem for me. The pace is slow, and the book is made even longer by the fact that Rob likes to write stories, using the names of her family, which she will go back and change later. Rob is not a great writer so there was no enjoyment in being made to read her fantasy novel or whatever it is she is working on. At first I forced myself to pay attention to them in case there were important clues to why or how she got herself into this situation but after the third or fourth time these stories seemed to be an unnecessary interruption so I skimmed them. This book would probably have been better off without them since it would have been less long and drawn out and draggy.

You may enjoy it more than I did, but this one just wasn't for me.
I received an advance copy for review.