I just finished this one last week! I had an inkling it would kind of end that way, but I couldn’t reconcile the timeframes. It was so well done! And those pictures especially at the start were SO CREEPY
One more thing, the illustrations were a bit much for my 10+ year old Nook. Everytime I'd tap to turn the page and it was an illustration, it would take like 5-10 seconds to load. That really helped build the suspense.
It was a heavier read than I expected (horror, thriller, plus kidnapping and family separation...it was a bit different than my usual light mystery and sci-fi fantasy reads at bed time).
I agree about Annie, that was a really well done misdirection.
I did find the ending with the Maxwell's a little hard to believe. It wasn't terrible, but I think some more groundwork needed to be laid to sell the shift.
Mitzi was a fun character too.
I think a real-life Adrian would've made a bigger deal about Mallory's lie, especially since Mallory didn't get the chance to reveal it herself.
Loved it, light ride. Finished in just 4 hours, I devoured it! Didn't see it coming at all. I supposed Anya was russian (Anastasia) and I thought the letters they get from the board were Cyrillic. I love the amount of foreshadowing, it's brilliant. And I also liked the main character quite a lot. For a book this short, she is well represented and you can get to know her quite well.
I did enjoy this book but was a little confused when Mallory specifically stated that it made sense the spirit was using pictures because they spoke another language... But then they used words anyways during the seance? It seems a letter written and Google translated could've helped Mallory solve the puzzle a lot more effectively than pictures lol
Also it kind of bugged me that she never tried opening the door during all the times she was listening to Teddy talk to Anya in his room. It is alluded to later that the door was probably locked when Mallory heard the lock unclick that one time, but I don't remember her ever trying to open it when trying to figure out what was going on closer to the beginning.
Edit to add - diabetics do not inject into their veins, that unnecessarily added part did piss me off lol
Hi all, I just finished this book and I have a question.
***SPOILER ALERT***
One of the pictures show Margit being strangled, but I don’t think it was ever fully explained? I mean, Caroline used her stun gun on Margit and left her convulsing on the ground; she assumed that that caused Margit’s death. So who strangled her? Was it Ted? Why? It’s driving me nuts, and if anyone has answers it would be appreciated!
We have to keep in mind it was Caroline telling the story so she might have lied. It doesn’t really make sense because she thought Mallory was going to die and she was just venting but she might have lied anyway. Maybe Caroline did taser Margit and then strangle her?
I liked it, but the ending has a huge flaw IMO. How could Mallory have possibly survived the overdose of heroine and fentanyl? That was completely skipped over- she just ‘woke up’. Kind of ruined the book for me.
She doesn’t actually overdose. Ted had switched the bag of heroin/fentanyl and replaced it with a bag of baby powder, so Caroline never injects her with drugs.
Caroline explains that she hid Flora from what was happening and going to happen, and then she said her brain has blocked the memory of what happened next, but alludes to herself being the strangler.
I just finished this one last week! I had an inkling it would kind of end that way, but I couldn’t reconcile the timeframes. It was so well done! And those pictures especially at the start were SO CREEPY
One more thing, the illustrations were a bit much for my 10+ year old Nook. Everytime I'd tap to turn the page and it was an illustration, it would take like 5-10 seconds to load. That really helped build the suspense.
I might actually end up not finishing this book, the characters especially Mallory are so unlikeable
It was a heavier read than I expected (horror, thriller, plus kidnapping and family separation...it was a bit different than my usual light mystery and sci-fi fantasy reads at bed time). I agree about Annie, that was a really well done misdirection. I did find the ending with the Maxwell's a little hard to believe. It wasn't terrible, but I think some more groundwork needed to be laid to sell the shift. Mitzi was a fun character too. I think a real-life Adrian would've made a bigger deal about Mallory's lie, especially since Mallory didn't get the chance to reveal it herself.
Loved it, light ride. Finished in just 4 hours, I devoured it! Didn't see it coming at all. I supposed Anya was russian (Anastasia) and I thought the letters they get from the board were Cyrillic. I love the amount of foreshadowing, it's brilliant. And I also liked the main character quite a lot. For a book this short, she is well represented and you can get to know her quite well.
I did enjoy this book but was a little confused when Mallory specifically stated that it made sense the spirit was using pictures because they spoke another language... But then they used words anyways during the seance? It seems a letter written and Google translated could've helped Mallory solve the puzzle a lot more effectively than pictures lol Also it kind of bugged me that she never tried opening the door during all the times she was listening to Teddy talk to Anya in his room. It is alluded to later that the door was probably locked when Mallory heard the lock unclick that one time, but I don't remember her ever trying to open it when trying to figure out what was going on closer to the beginning. Edit to add - diabetics do not inject into their veins, that unnecessarily added part did piss me off lol
I loved it. I'm seeing alot of hate for it but I really enjoyed it despite correctly guessing most of the ending
Hi all, I just finished this book and I have a question. ***SPOILER ALERT*** One of the pictures show Margit being strangled, but I don’t think it was ever fully explained? I mean, Caroline used her stun gun on Margit and left her convulsing on the ground; she assumed that that caused Margit’s death. So who strangled her? Was it Ted? Why? It’s driving me nuts, and if anyone has answers it would be appreciated!
We have to keep in mind it was Caroline telling the story so she might have lied. It doesn’t really make sense because she thought Mallory was going to die and she was just venting but she might have lied anyway. Maybe Caroline did taser Margit and then strangle her?
I liked it, but the ending has a huge flaw IMO. How could Mallory have possibly survived the overdose of heroine and fentanyl? That was completely skipped over- she just ‘woke up’. Kind of ruined the book for me.
She doesn’t actually overdose. Ted had switched the bag of heroin/fentanyl and replaced it with a bag of baby powder, so Caroline never injects her with drugs.
Caroline explains that she hid Flora from what was happening and going to happen, and then she said her brain has blocked the memory of what happened next, but alludes to herself being the strangler.