Roach would rather be listening to the latest episode of her favorite true crime podcast than assisting the boring and predictable customers at her local branch of the bookstore Spines, where she’s worked her entire adult life. A serious true crime junkie, Roach looks down her nose at the pumpkin-spice-latte-drinking casual fans who only became interested in the genre once it got trendy. But when Laura, a pretty and charismatic children’s bookseller, arrives to help rejuvenate the struggling bookstore branch, Roach recognizes in her an unexpected kindred spirit.
Despite their common interest in true crime, Laura keeps her distance from Roach, resisting the other woman’s overtures of friendship. Undeterred, Roach learns everything she can about her new colleague, eventually uncovering Laura’s traumatic family history. When Roach realizes that she may have come across her very own true crime story, interest swiftly blooms into a dangerous obsession. (Goodreads synopsis)
This is Alice Slater’s debut novel, and I hated it. I hated both Roach and Laura. Roach was weird and made me super uncomfortable, especially when she meets her “boyfriend”. Laura was a jerk, stuck up and rude to Roach. I get that Roach made her uncomfortable, but she was rude before Roach ever actually started talking to her. Every interaction between them was the same, and it felt like Eli (who told Laura she was mean) made excuses for her instead of calling her out on her actions.
The true crime talk felt romanticized, for both murderers and victims. Laura is on the side of the victims whereas Roach seems more on the side of serial killers, and the whole thing gives the reader a sense of whiplash. For instance, when Laura is in Mean Girl mode about Roach, the reader almost feels sympathy for Roach. Later, when Laura talks about the victims as well as her own past, the reader feels guilty/compelled to sympathize with Laura. There is no mystery to this novel, no ah-ha moments. It’s just a seesaw of emotion that drags the novel and the reader down.
Overall, I rate this novel 1 out of 5 stars.
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