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Scrap: A Novel
A true-crime obsessed young artist is drawn into the lives of an obscenely wealthy family in this fantastically entertaining thriller from Calla Henkel, author of Other People’s Clothes Recently dumped and stuck with a mortgage, artist Esther Ray wants to burn the world, but instead, she reluctantly accepts a scrapbooking job from the deliriously wealthy Naomi Duncan. The scrapbooks, a secret birthday gift for Naomi’s husband, Bryce, trace the Duncan’s 25-year marriage. The Esther must include every piece of paper she’s been sent, must sign an NDA, and must only contact Naomi using the burner phone provided. Otherwise she’ll spoil the surprise. As Esther binges true-crime podcasts and works through the near-200 boxes of Duncan detritus, she finds herself infatuated with the gilded family—until, mid-project, Naomi dies suspiciously. When Esther becomes convinced the husband killed her, she uses the scrapbooks’ trove of information to insert herself into the Duncans’ lives to prove it. But the more Esther investigates, the further she is dragged back to the scorched earth of her past and the famous artist who paid her to disappear. Laced with pitch-black humor and conspiratorial unease, Scrap is a razor-sharp examination of wealth and power, art and truth, of the line between justice and revenge—and who gets to cross it.
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First published March 14, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 374 reviews
September 9, 2025
BRING BACK PROOFREADERS
March 9, 2024
Calla Henkel once expressed a desire to write “Get in it and go for the ride thrillers,” this definitely fits the bill. Henkel’s narrator Esther Ray has quit, possibly fled, New York's art scene for a peaceful existence in the mountains with girlfriend Jessica, close to the hippy-retreat-turned-lesbian-haven Asheville. She spends her days crafting to a soundtrack of true crime podcasts. But when her life plan’s abruptly overturned, she finds herself embroiled in a real-life mystery, pulled back into the world she’d tried to leave behind.
Esther is a fascinating creation, prone to caustic observations, muttered witticisms, and morally dubious decisions, she’s clearly concealing a shady past. There’s also something slightly retro about her, her clothes, her attitudes bear traces of the amateur detectives found in vintage, lesbian/feminist crime novels. Like those women Esther is driven by an obsession with solving a possible crime. But what felt cosy in their stories has a more sinister feel in Henkel’s.
Henkel’s portrayal of the contemporary art world is wonderfully vivid and gloriously scathing. She’s brilliant at conveying its more feudal aspects, artists forced to butter up wealthy, vapid patrons looking for an investment or conversation piece to decorate their pricy homes. But then again Henkel’s writing what she knows here, she’s a well-regarded artist in her own right. She clearly knows her crime too. Her plot, her themes of reinvention, self-delusion, and deception form an inventive play on the work of writers like Gillian Flynn and Patricia Highsmith. Prickly outsider Esther often seems like a naïve, hapless version of Highsmith’s Ripley and, like Ripley, I found it impossible not to root for her – even at her most unlikeable.
I got the impression Henkel was enjoying herself here, she opens with lines from Derrida’s Archive Fever (Mal d’Archive) but makes his ideas the basis for a commercial thriller. She skilfully reproduces tropes and conventions from crime writing but engages in gentle parody at the same time. Yet she still manages to reflect on wider political and cultural issues: alienation; social media and narcissism; femicide and the overwhelming number of missing or discarded women. I was a bit thrown by the content of some later reveals, they felt a bit excessive - although compared to Flynn’s plots they’re positively minimalist. I was also uncertain about some of the ideas around the maternal here - but I can’t really go into those without giving away too much. But despite any and all reservations I really relished this one.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Sceptre for an ARC
Esther is a fascinating creation, prone to caustic observations, muttered witticisms, and morally dubious decisions, she’s clearly concealing a shady past. There’s also something slightly retro about her, her clothes, her attitudes bear traces of the amateur detectives found in vintage, lesbian/feminist crime novels. Like those women Esther is driven by an obsession with solving a possible crime. But what felt cosy in their stories has a more sinister feel in Henkel’s.
Henkel’s portrayal of the contemporary art world is wonderfully vivid and gloriously scathing. She’s brilliant at conveying its more feudal aspects, artists forced to butter up wealthy, vapid patrons looking for an investment or conversation piece to decorate their pricy homes. But then again Henkel’s writing what she knows here, she’s a well-regarded artist in her own right. She clearly knows her crime too. Her plot, her themes of reinvention, self-delusion, and deception form an inventive play on the work of writers like Gillian Flynn and Patricia Highsmith. Prickly outsider Esther often seems like a naïve, hapless version of Highsmith’s Ripley and, like Ripley, I found it impossible not to root for her – even at her most unlikeable.
I got the impression Henkel was enjoying herself here, she opens with lines from Derrida’s Archive Fever (Mal d’Archive) but makes his ideas the basis for a commercial thriller. She skilfully reproduces tropes and conventions from crime writing but engages in gentle parody at the same time. Yet she still manages to reflect on wider political and cultural issues: alienation; social media and narcissism; femicide and the overwhelming number of missing or discarded women. I was a bit thrown by the content of some later reveals, they felt a bit excessive - although compared to Flynn’s plots they’re positively minimalist. I was also uncertain about some of the ideas around the maternal here - but I can’t really go into those without giving away too much. But despite any and all reservations I really relished this one.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Sceptre for an ARC
September 2, 2024
I ATE THIS UP, but 3.5 stars rounded down. See I’m trying to be objective if that’s even possible, lemme explain to you what I mean.
A young lesbian bookmaker meets a crazy rich lady, who, in a flash of fate, commissions her to create scrapbooks with every document she’s collected over the past 20 years. These include her daughter’s school tests, financial receipts, and regular-degular family photos. Although initially skeptical, our main character accepts (she just got dumped and now needs money to cover the costs of their previously shared mountain cabin). But when rich lady dies… some scraps reveal there may have been something else going on…
Pacing is insane because I could NOT put this book down. But while events progressed perfectly, not every clue was revealed satisfyingly. Sometimes little pieces would come out at unexpected points a little too easy. It would catch me a bit off guard when I was hoping for a big reveal there. Especially the ending… that was too easy of an explanation for me. But other elements did tie themselves up nicely, almost poetically for our main character. The drama and tension in the gaps definitely made up for the easiness. This book is so rich that there are a million things there to pull your attention.
Another note: Scrap carries a modern tone… I’d say in a respectable way. Like there’s a character that’s a Tik Tok influencer (normally I’d eye roll), but it never felt unnatural. It was refreshing to me! I actually quite enjoyed it after reading a bunch of deep literary masterpieces. And how addictive it was.
So I’d definitely recommend if you’re looking for a fun read. I devoured this book. It’s certainly not perfect but it is a romppppp
A young lesbian bookmaker meets a crazy rich lady, who, in a flash of fate, commissions her to create scrapbooks with every document she’s collected over the past 20 years. These include her daughter’s school tests, financial receipts, and regular-degular family photos. Although initially skeptical, our main character accepts (she just got dumped and now needs money to cover the costs of their previously shared mountain cabin). But when rich lady dies… some scraps reveal there may have been something else going on…
Pacing is insane because I could NOT put this book down. But while events progressed perfectly, not every clue was revealed satisfyingly. Sometimes little pieces would come out at unexpected points a little too easy. It would catch me a bit off guard when I was hoping for a big reveal there. Especially the ending… that was too easy of an explanation for me. But other elements did tie themselves up nicely, almost poetically for our main character. The drama and tension in the gaps definitely made up for the easiness. This book is so rich that there are a million things there to pull your attention.
Another note: Scrap carries a modern tone… I’d say in a respectable way. Like there’s a character that’s a Tik Tok influencer (normally I’d eye roll), but it never felt unnatural. It was refreshing to me! I actually quite enjoyed it after reading a bunch of deep literary masterpieces. And how addictive it was.
So I’d definitely recommend if you’re looking for a fun read. I devoured this book. It’s certainly not perfect but it is a romppppp
September 8, 2024
Oh my god. Okay lesbian Gone girl.
February 27, 2024
From The Cover📖
Recently dumped and stuck with the mortgage, artist Esther Ray wants to burn the world, but instead, she reluctantly accepts a scrapbooking job from the deliriously wealthy Naomi Duncan. The scrapbooks, a secret birthday gift for Naomi's husband Bryce, trace the Duncan's twenty-five-year marriage. The conditions: Esther must include every piece of paper she's been sent, must sign an NDA, and must only contact Naomi using the burner phone provided. Otherwise she'll spoil the surprise. As Esther binges true-crime podcasts and works through the near-two hundred-boxes of Duncan detritus, she finds herself infatuated with the gilded family - until, mid-project, Naomi dies suspiciously. When Esther becomes convinced the husband killed her, she uses the scrapbooks' trove of information to insert herself into the Duncan's' lives to prove it. But the more Esther investigates, the further she is dragged back to the scorched earth of her past and the famous artist who paid her to disappear.
Review ⭐️
From the synopsis I should have loved this book. From this I thought I was getting a unique modern tale on my favourite genre - classic golden age crime with a twist- I was thinking Erin Kelly meets Lisa Jewell…. Was so WRONG
What should have been an interesting concept , with the scarp book, amateur sleuthing and hints of dark secrets, is in a fact a self indulgent car crash.
Recalled in the first POV via Esther, this is books first failing as a character she is a riot all over the places full of self importance ,she is nasty,unlikable and for want of a better phrase a pain in the bum she isn’t a character I want to hear from in the first person. The writer has fallen into the trap of describing her thoughts and feelings over and over again so not only is she not very likeable character she comes across completely self-absorbed and boring, even in the parts about the investigation and other characters it becomes all about her much of which isn’t relevant to the plot and a lot of it seems slipped in at the point of edit to try make sense of the frankly bonkers conclusion.
The second failing is the fact the author has clearly put far too much of her own prejudices and judgment in the character, with lots of quite nasty remarks of which made me laugh as the writer clearly follows a woke agenda but her remarks and observations are far from woke but are in fact single minded and ill informed, the joke/remark about gay men and lupus I found quite appalling to be honest.
The third failing is the plot itself the main plot looses all traction as the novel goes on, it loses the focus and whizzes off in a number of directions that result in a broken very unrealistic ending, the author makes nods to Gone Girl thoughout any compassions between the masterpiece that is Gone Girl and this rubbish is highly insulting. The sub plots that are meant to illustrate Esther’s motives are farcical, in particular where her sense of justice comes from, her reactions to the outcomes of these sub plots is comical it’s like her full motive and character arcs were pointless.
This novel is all over the place jumping about with no firm plot, the sub plots are pointless with no firm threads , the ending is ridiculous, the characters badly written, and overall the novel reads like the inner thoughts of the authors own screwed up views.
This could have been brilliant as the initial concept was really quite unique but it was sadly let down.
Don’t waste your time reading this it’s only good for scrap.
Recently dumped and stuck with the mortgage, artist Esther Ray wants to burn the world, but instead, she reluctantly accepts a scrapbooking job from the deliriously wealthy Naomi Duncan. The scrapbooks, a secret birthday gift for Naomi's husband Bryce, trace the Duncan's twenty-five-year marriage. The conditions: Esther must include every piece of paper she's been sent, must sign an NDA, and must only contact Naomi using the burner phone provided. Otherwise she'll spoil the surprise. As Esther binges true-crime podcasts and works through the near-two hundred-boxes of Duncan detritus, she finds herself infatuated with the gilded family - until, mid-project, Naomi dies suspiciously. When Esther becomes convinced the husband killed her, she uses the scrapbooks' trove of information to insert herself into the Duncan's' lives to prove it. But the more Esther investigates, the further she is dragged back to the scorched earth of her past and the famous artist who paid her to disappear.
Review ⭐️
From the synopsis I should have loved this book. From this I thought I was getting a unique modern tale on my favourite genre - classic golden age crime with a twist- I was thinking Erin Kelly meets Lisa Jewell…. Was so WRONG
What should have been an interesting concept , with the scarp book, amateur sleuthing and hints of dark secrets, is in a fact a self indulgent car crash.
Recalled in the first POV via Esther, this is books first failing as a character she is a riot all over the places full of self importance ,she is nasty,unlikable and for want of a better phrase a pain in the bum she isn’t a character I want to hear from in the first person. The writer has fallen into the trap of describing her thoughts and feelings over and over again so not only is she not very likeable character she comes across completely self-absorbed and boring, even in the parts about the investigation and other characters it becomes all about her much of which isn’t relevant to the plot and a lot of it seems slipped in at the point of edit to try make sense of the frankly bonkers conclusion.
The second failing is the fact the author has clearly put far too much of her own prejudices and judgment in the character, with lots of quite nasty remarks of which made me laugh as the writer clearly follows a woke agenda but her remarks and observations are far from woke but are in fact single minded and ill informed, the joke/remark about gay men and lupus I found quite appalling to be honest.
The third failing is the plot itself the main plot looses all traction as the novel goes on, it loses the focus and whizzes off in a number of directions that result in a broken very unrealistic ending, the author makes nods to Gone Girl thoughout any compassions between the masterpiece that is Gone Girl and this rubbish is highly insulting. The sub plots that are meant to illustrate Esther’s motives are farcical, in particular where her sense of justice comes from, her reactions to the outcomes of these sub plots is comical it’s like her full motive and character arcs were pointless.
This novel is all over the place jumping about with no firm plot, the sub plots are pointless with no firm threads , the ending is ridiculous, the characters badly written, and overall the novel reads like the inner thoughts of the authors own screwed up views.
This could have been brilliant as the initial concept was really quite unique but it was sadly let down.
Don’t waste your time reading this it’s only good for scrap.
Read
September 22, 2025didn’t finish SORRY BOOK CLERB 💔💔💔
September 21, 2025
2.5
At this point I think Frankie hates us
At this point I think Frankie hates us
October 16, 2024
she gone girled a little too close to the sun (or should i say the slopes..)
April 4, 2024
Mmm this book was okay. It’s a page turner and Henkel is good at capturing a manic obsessive brain. But I just wanted more - more wit and more suspense … I dunno it had some good one liners but the whole thing was a bit flat. Can’t even think of interesting things to write in this review cause I feel so meh about it
August 30, 2024
this was kind of a love letter to parasocial relationships and identity theft
September 11, 2025
Wow! What a bad book.
My main gripe, aside from poorer writing quality, was with Esther's humor and characterization. I can't tell if the reader is supposed to laugh with or at her. At times, lines relating to a Hillary Clinton meme, Walmart customers, and true crime obsession make Esther seem like a parody of a certain kind of of millennial. Other times, specifically after a reveal about Esther's anger and grief, make it seem like we're supposed to find this character mostly endearing. Her obsessions escalate unnaturally (imo) and the introduction to her history with felt incredibly out of place, as did a lot of other important plot elements. This book's reliance on the plot of Gone Girl is especially lazy writing. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie and you don't want to be spoiled, definitely do that before reading Scrap. Additionally, there is a part where the character Chrissy is mislabeled as "Naomi" during a conversation that Naomi isn't part of.
Final verdict without spoilers: Messy, cringe, poorly written. The one compliment I can give this book is that it is incredibly easy to read.
Spoilers:
My main gripe, aside from poorer writing quality, was with Esther's humor and characterization. I can't tell if the reader is supposed to laugh with or at her. At times, lines relating to a Hillary Clinton meme, Walmart customers, and true crime obsession make Esther seem like a parody of a certain kind of of millennial. Other times, specifically after a reveal about Esther's anger and grief, make it seem like we're supposed to find this character mostly endearing. Her obsessions escalate unnaturally (imo) and the introduction to her history with felt incredibly out of place, as did a lot of other important plot elements. This book's reliance on the plot of Gone Girl is especially lazy writing. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie and you don't want to be spoiled, definitely do that before reading Scrap. Additionally, there is a part where the character Chrissy is mislabeled as "Naomi" during a conversation that Naomi isn't part of.
Final verdict without spoilers: Messy, cringe, poorly written. The one compliment I can give this book is that it is incredibly easy to read.
Spoilers:
October 8, 2025
when the essay due in two hours
June 8, 2024
i can’t mind the last time i was this thoroughly entertained. did i believe a word of this? no. did i absolutely love it? yes
Calla Henkel’s Scrap is about lesbian crafter (of course) Esther who is tasked with a secretive and meticulous scrapbooking project by rich philanthropist Naomi. in the midst of listening to true crime podcasts and getting dumped by the woman she thought she’d have kids with, Esther discovers that Naomi has died — and she suspects Naomi’s husband to be involved.
Scrap tackles obsession, true crime fanaticism, privilege, grief, and truth, but with wit and irony. i can only describe it as a wild ride.
it’s Gone Girl meets Gossip Girl but gay. if that doesn’t sell it, i don’t know what will…
Calla Henkel’s Scrap is about lesbian crafter (of course) Esther who is tasked with a secretive and meticulous scrapbooking project by rich philanthropist Naomi. in the midst of listening to true crime podcasts and getting dumped by the woman she thought she’d have kids with, Esther discovers that Naomi has died — and she suspects Naomi’s husband to be involved.
Scrap tackles obsession, true crime fanaticism, privilege, grief, and truth, but with wit and irony. i can only describe it as a wild ride.
it’s Gone Girl meets Gossip Girl but gay. if that doesn’t sell it, i don’t know what will…
December 4, 2024
a compulsive, caustic read. its cynical yet ultimately hurting narrative voice reminded a bit of the protagonist of anna dorn's perfume and pain, but this was much more of a thriller. the tension was really well-done and i couldn't put this book down. i do feel like some parts of the ending were a bit too easily tied up, but other parts were quite interesting thematically in terms of esther's grief and longing for a better life — you'll get it if you've read the book. overall, not a flawless book, but an incredibly entertaining romp that i'd definitely recommend.
also unrelated but no idea why goodreads says i've read this multiple times lol this is my first time reading this book
also unrelated but no idea why goodreads says i've read this multiple times lol this is my first time reading this book
September 7, 2025
True crime obsessed woman gets wrapped up in a delusional crime of her own. Based on the cover I was expecting this to lean more into literary side than it did, but I guess I shouldn't have assumed lol. I felt the middle dragged slightly but it didn't bother me all that much, many thriller adjacent books have the same issue. This is definitely best binged all in one day
February 29, 2024
A really enjoyable mystery thriller. Not what I usually read but I’ve wanted to read Henkel for a while. This is about a woman who meets a billionaire at an art preview and the billionaire asks her to turn a bunch of her old keepsakes and papers into some scrapbooks. The artist agrees but then the billionaire woman dies and the artist woman goes absolutely batshit crazy trying to find out what happened.
The pacing was a bit off for me. It took me a while to get into it, but the middle section where all the action was happening really drew me in. There were issues I felt with some scenes feeling rushed but overall it was a really well plotted book and super easy and fun to read. I wasn’t sure about the ending and still don’t know if I liked it yet, maybe a bit too neat for my liking, but I did enjoy this book and am glad I branched out of my normal genres to read it.
The pacing was a bit off for me. It took me a while to get into it, but the middle section where all the action was happening really drew me in. There were issues I felt with some scenes feeling rushed but overall it was a really well plotted book and super easy and fun to read. I wasn’t sure about the ending and still don’t know if I liked it yet, maybe a bit too neat for my liking, but I did enjoy this book and am glad I branched out of my normal genres to read it.
September 11, 2024
OK, so I am a bit unsure how to feel about this book.
What I liked:
premise, amateur investigator, unstable main character with questionable past and emotional damage
What I didn't:
plot strings and tone felt all over the place at times, scrapbooking element not as critical as I kind of hoped, literal entire summary of another well known thriller that then plays into the plot in some ways, I am unsure how earned the ending felt to me, and it felt rushed and somewhat flat
it also occasionally contains sentences that seem out of place or odd. case in point:
"Like everything biblical, it felt like a porno" LOL what
Overall, this was a decently enjoyable book that didn't fully click for me, but I don't regret reading this
What I liked:
premise, amateur investigator, unstable main character with questionable past and emotional damage
What I didn't:
plot strings and tone felt all over the place at times, scrapbooking element not as critical as I kind of hoped, literal entire summary of another well known thriller that then plays into the plot in some ways, I am unsure how earned the ending felt to me, and it felt rushed and somewhat flat
it also occasionally contains sentences that seem out of place or odd. case in point:
"Like everything biblical, it felt like a porno" LOL what
Overall, this was a decently enjoyable book that didn't fully click for me, but I don't regret reading this
December 14, 2024
The book wasn’t poorly written, I’ve simply never hated a main character more than I hated Esther Ray. By the time I hit the last 50 pages, I didn’t care at all about who had done what and why; I just wanted the endless psychosis, irresponsibility, impulsiveness, selfishness, and wokeness to end.
October 15, 2024
had a blast
September 9, 2025
I like NPR but this was an NPR book (derogatory)
September 11, 2025
Well, that one was a stinker.
August 24, 2025
3.5 but in a good way
April 17, 2025
Every time I picked this up I’d only make it a few pages before I would put it down. I never felt the need to pick it back up again. I made it a little over halfway before I started skimming.
SUCH a good premise. TOO MUCH focus on murder podcasts and not on what was actually happening. Too much of the story was told in abrupt timeline changes.
I went in wanting to be obsessed with this. Instead I feel like little birdies are circling my brain.
Also this:
“I hadn't read fiction since college when I'd been forced to read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I found fiction manipulative and filled with hyperbole, but I needed something to fill my brain, so I cracked the well-worn spine.” ……………. JAIL.
SUCH a good premise. TOO MUCH focus on murder podcasts and not on what was actually happening. Too much of the story was told in abrupt timeline changes.
I went in wanting to be obsessed with this. Instead I feel like little birdies are circling my brain.
Also this:
“I hadn't read fiction since college when I'd been forced to read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I found fiction manipulative and filled with hyperbole, but I needed something to fill my brain, so I cracked the well-worn spine.” ……………. JAIL.
September 14, 2025
2.5
The ending and the way Gone Girl was included brought my rating down. If you don’t know anything about Gone Girl, this book will spoil everything for you by giving a complete plot summary and connecting it to the characters in Scrap. Instead of referencing Gone Girl subtly, it uses that story to try to explain itself, and that felt lazy. Why rely so heavily on another piece of fiction like this? Not only will it fall flat if your audience doesn’t know or care about Gone Girl, but it’s so strange to stop and give a book report in the middle of what should be a climactic ending. It risks ruining that story for people who have never read it, and that’s why I had to wait and finish Gone Girl before finishing this.
This book didn’t do its premise justice. It did not give as much commentary on true crime as I would’ve liked. The deepest conclusion the FMC comes to is she listens to true crime podcasts to distract from her own sadness, but we get no development on how ethical it actually is to insert yourself into someone’s tragedy like that. There are parts of her character that feel shallow on purpose, but that’s not explored or challenged in an interesting way. She’s just stupid and has bad opinions that she doesn’t have to change by the end.
Esther is one of those intentionally unlikable main characters that could be intriguing. She’s impulsive, delusional, and she gives me secondhand embarrassment. She thinks true crime podcasters are more just than the police and ignores how true crime content can retraumatize and disrespect victims/their families. The book isn’t about her being a lesbian, but she insists on calling people slurs (lesbians and gay men) which felt so unnecessary and distracting. She hates men in a really unjustified way that makes me roll my eyes. She seems to think she’s better than other people. She has some progressive political views, but they’re so surface level. Her narration makes it clear she hates cops and the rich, but that didn’t really go anywhere. In my opinion, she doesn’t get enough comeuppance to make these traits worth reading about.
I was expecting her to be proven wrong about one more thing at the end. She jumped to conclusions literally everywhere else, her theories felt ridiculous, and I didn’t want her to be right. There was also a reveal that made it hard to take things seriously. I can suspend my disbelief for thrillers, but this reveal just didn’t make sense to me. It didn’t connect to the themes of the story very well, and it didn’t seem realistic.
The last third wasn’t very mysterious because I never believed what Esther was thinking, so I was just waiting for the truth to be revealed to her. It didn’t make me eager to finish the story. The ending took an easy way out to answer all the remaining questions in one conversation. There was weird emotional stuff about motherhood that wasn’t fully resolved. Nothing new or interesting is said about school shooters either, and it seemed like that could have been an important theme. The story introduced very bland class commentary through Esther complaining about rich people, and I wish there was more reflection on that. This book has a lot of aspects (pretentious artists, criminals, social media, the gay community, family life, true crime, financial power) it wants to dissect, but it didn’t work for me.
The ending and the way Gone Girl was included brought my rating down. If you don’t know anything about Gone Girl, this book will spoil everything for you by giving a complete plot summary and connecting it to the characters in Scrap. Instead of referencing Gone Girl subtly, it uses that story to try to explain itself, and that felt lazy. Why rely so heavily on another piece of fiction like this? Not only will it fall flat if your audience doesn’t know or care about Gone Girl, but it’s so strange to stop and give a book report in the middle of what should be a climactic ending. It risks ruining that story for people who have never read it, and that’s why I had to wait and finish Gone Girl before finishing this.
This book didn’t do its premise justice. It did not give as much commentary on true crime as I would’ve liked. The deepest conclusion the FMC comes to is she listens to true crime podcasts to distract from her own sadness, but we get no development on how ethical it actually is to insert yourself into someone’s tragedy like that. There are parts of her character that feel shallow on purpose, but that’s not explored or challenged in an interesting way. She’s just stupid and has bad opinions that she doesn’t have to change by the end.
Esther is one of those intentionally unlikable main characters that could be intriguing. She’s impulsive, delusional, and she gives me secondhand embarrassment. She thinks true crime podcasters are more just than the police and ignores how true crime content can retraumatize and disrespect victims/their families. The book isn’t about her being a lesbian, but she insists on calling people slurs (lesbians and gay men) which felt so unnecessary and distracting. She hates men in a really unjustified way that makes me roll my eyes. She seems to think she’s better than other people. She has some progressive political views, but they’re so surface level. Her narration makes it clear she hates cops and the rich, but that didn’t really go anywhere. In my opinion, she doesn’t get enough comeuppance to make these traits worth reading about.
I was expecting her to be proven wrong about one more thing at the end. She jumped to conclusions literally everywhere else, her theories felt ridiculous, and I didn’t want her to be right. There was also a reveal that made it hard to take things seriously. I can suspend my disbelief for thrillers, but this reveal just didn’t make sense to me. It didn’t connect to the themes of the story very well, and it didn’t seem realistic.
The last third wasn’t very mysterious because I never believed what Esther was thinking, so I was just waiting for the truth to be revealed to her. It didn’t make me eager to finish the story. The ending took an easy way out to answer all the remaining questions in one conversation. There was weird emotional stuff about motherhood that wasn’t fully resolved. Nothing new or interesting is said about school shooters either, and it seemed like that could have been an important theme. The story introduced very bland class commentary through Esther complaining about rich people, and I wish there was more reflection on that. This book has a lot of aspects (pretentious artists, criminals, social media, the gay community, family life, true crime, financial power) it wants to dissect, but it didn’t work for me.
December 19, 2025
This was a very entertaining read. Wryly humorous and twisty. I enjoyed that Esther, the main character, was actually making the books (folding and stitching signatures) that she was creating as the requested scrapbooks from Naomi’s life. Also liked the relationship between Esther and her neighbor Patrick - two introverts trying to connect as unlikely friends.
February 12, 2025
3.5 ★ rounded down because some of it, using the author's own words, felt like something out of a bad TV show
October 25, 2024
Campy art world lesbian murder Asheville hippie mommy issues unreliable narrator rural family intrigue thriller. It was so good. Not as good as the author’s debut or maybe yes—just different. It was fun fast and the pace/nesting of story really comes together at the end.
September 30, 2024
2.5 rounded down
The best way I can describe this is ... tedious.
Our lead character is largely insufferable. It felt like we were supposed to gain a level of sympathy (or at least understanding) for her over the course of events, but honestly I understood why people kept leaving her . Self involved but self loathing, petulant like a child, all while remaining high and mighty AF, and espousing how much she hates the art world and the wealthy around it/herself. That's not a critique of the art world, that's what every artist ever has said - either out of bitterness or to try to change it.
The start of mystery was very strong and I was extremely bought in on the idea. Then a lot of the courses of events fell flat, or the build-up didn't pay off, and the wrap up at the end wasn't what I was hoping we might be in for. Side characters were introduced and then thrown away, which I guess is a realistic thing given how I felt about our main character.
Overall, just didn't hit for me.
The best way I can describe this is ... tedious.
Our lead character is largely insufferable. It felt like we were supposed to gain a level of sympathy (or at least understanding) for her over the course of events, but honestly I understood why people kept leaving her . Self involved but self loathing, petulant like a child, all while remaining high and mighty AF, and espousing how much she hates the art world and the wealthy around it/herself. That's not a critique of the art world, that's what every artist ever has said - either out of bitterness or to try to change it.
The start of mystery was very strong and I was extremely bought in on the idea. Then a lot of the courses of events fell flat, or the build-up didn't pay off, and the wrap up at the end wasn't what I was hoping we might be in for. Side characters were introduced and then thrown away, which I guess is a realistic thing given how I felt about our main character.
Overall, just didn't hit for me.
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