I read this book as a standalone and didn't have any major trouble keeping the characters straight in terms of the narrative. The author is reasonably adept at plotting and tension, but the dialogue devolved into whiny/petulant so very often. I couldn't like the protagonist, she alternates between doormat submissiveness and antagonism with no in between time. She's meant to be an appraiser for a Manhattan gallery and yet she doesn't come across as polished, savvy, or particularly intelligent. The author spends a fair bit of page content on enumerating how very wealthy Annalisse's fiance/boyfriend/foil/frenemy is whilst painting him as a distant preoccupied sometimes jerk. He had recently lost his father violently (book 1) and that's alluded to several times without anyone apparently cutting him any slack over the residual trauma.
The plot is so over the top convoluted and unbelievable that I didn't really care who killed whom or why. The fact that I finished the book shaking my head over the big denouement reveal and thinking how monstrous a betrayal it was long term, short term, every way possible, doesn't really make me want to pick up the first book in the series. The dialogue was often abrasive and cringe-worthy. Annalisse's aunt Kate's adult children made me want to kick them in the backside. Even the 'sympathetic' expat New Zealander farmhand was underwhelming; halfway cartoonish (forensics obsessed, but he's fine with tampering with a crime scene) and a bit of a buffoon (he's a comics collector because OF COURSE he is). The whole jealousy thing between Alec and Ethan was weird and unnecessarily dramatic.
I believe this book could have benefited from a thorough editing to tighten and polish the dialogue and some of the plot holes. The typos: beamer means a recklessly bowled head shot in cricket, Beemer is slang for a BMW, phase instead of faze (used correctly a couple pages later), and others, detracted from my enjoyment.
I would recommend the book/series to lovers of drama romance, not so much mystery/thriller/cozy fans. The book has a lot of potential and the author is clearly engaged and invested in her characters. The book might make a good selection for a book club discussion or buddy read; there are some discussion questions included. It's also worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
Three stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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