This was aggressively fine. Short, entertaining enough, pretty well paced. The thematic content is very important. As an exvangelical, I found a lot of it relatable.

For a story told in first person, however, there’s remarkably little introspection. The story is more a tale of “I did this and then I did this” with minimal reflection. I was also hoping for some kind of epilogue to wrap up the story of Rose and her parents, but that doesn’t happen.

I like how Saul and Rose have different responses to the situation in terms of their faith, and the book doesn’t judge either of them for where they land. They also don’t judge each other which was refreshing.

Overall the book was just too surface level and honestly didn’t get as horrific or as dark as I thought it would. I wasn’t as moved as I wanted to be as a result. I think it’d work well as a movie, though, and I might enjoy that version of it a lot more.