"The good stories in this collection are brilliant. I am quite a fan of this writer. So many mordant observations of contemporary life. Lots of resignation in the characters and people who see the world without sentimentality. A bizarre and increasingly annoying preoccupation with fat and detailed descriptions of fatness. Like nearly every story someone is fat. Which is also reality. It just seems to be a specific preoccupation that became noticeable to the point of distraction. And it's fine. Just became a bit much with so many stories. Loved the absolute indifference so many of the characters had for living as they saw fit. Lots to chew on in this collection. I would recommend it even though I didn't love it. I respect the writing, admire it, even. "

"What is with all these 4 star+ rated thrillers being so awful?

I mean, I get that this book is quite compelling, especially with the use of short chapters and the psychiatrist's tape recordings to keep the pacing up... but, come on, go back and reread the first few chapters after finishing this book and tell me the twist makes sense. Because it really doesn't.

So many people have recommended McFadden to me. I actually went and picked up this book and The Housemaid at the same time, but now I'm reluctant to start her other stuff because parts of this were laughably bad.

It's hard to say which was the worst thing. The repetition of the same thing over and over?

It was a worrying reminder of the fact that I’ve only known my husband for a little over a year.

It’s yet another reminder that I’ve only known this man for a little over a year.

The way the author hammered us over the head with a red herring to the point that I felt a little insulted?

(view spoiler)[Tricia discovers tapes of sessions with "EJ", a psychopath and wine connoisseur with a "familiar" voice. Her husband is called Ethan, is a wine connoisseur, has a temper sometimes, has no known friends or family and, she notes, she doesn't know him very well at all 🙄 (hide spoiler)]

Or the ludicrous twists that may have worked if this book had been written in third person, but in first person are utterly absurd?

Also, the author does this weird thing where a character will say something via dialogue, then the narrator will make an extremely obvious observation about it in their inner monologue. For example:

“Don’t let him manipulate you,� Ethan says. “He isn’t a good person. He killed [spoiler]. He killed one of the people closest to him. What kind of person does that?�

Ethan doesn’t have a clue that [spoiler] isn’t the one who killed [spoiler].

No shit! She does this multiple times.

In some ways, two stars feels generous, but then I did blast through this with a need to know what the hell was going on. Not many authors manage to keep the suspense going like that."