I am gobsmacked by how this plot unravelled the way it did. This was very nearly a DNF for me. It glosses over all the interesting bits while reinforcing every single negative trope and cheap idea about victims, abusers, and child sex abuse survivors. It literally excuses Walter being a literal pedophile and groomer by saying Josie was “off”, ignoring the entire part where she’s raised by a shitty mother who doesn’t even care that her own daughter is groomed by her partner!
This is not a story of nuance, folks! Here’s the nuance I really craved:
1. Alix’s character is a passive aggressive woman with horrible boundaries who profits off exploiting the trauma-porn stories of women. Period. She actually owed a duty of care to Josie, in my opinion. Any abuse survivor telling their story to a journalist is fraught with retraumatization.
2. On this note, i so would have loved to see Alix be the one that goes postal, rather than (surprise surprise), the woman who was groomed as a 15 year old girl.
3. Josie is nuts but frankly the lack of sympathy and amount of victim blaming would make me go crazy too, honestly!
This felt like a book written by the entire civil trial of Amber Heard or something. It was stupid, sadly predictable, and psychologically uninteresting. It’s like Gone Girl has permanently poisoned the brains of thriller writers and readers and we just mine the idea that once abused or neglected, you’re primed for being a psycho murderer.
It’s so exhausting.
by thedarlingbear
2 Comments
So, either you DNF’d it or missed the entire point of the book, which is in the title.
Walter’s first wife was also 15 or so years younger. So he was established as a pedo/groomer. He prob picked Josie’s mom cause he knew she would be susceptible