To any aspiring authors: a personality can be many things. Here is a list of things it is *not*:
1. It is not having an affair;
2. It is not having a friend die 15 years ago;
3. It is not having a toxic parental figure.
Or, to put it succintly in the manner of Tony Stark in SM:Homecoming (yes, the MCU is the superior media offering in comparison to this particular book): if you are nothing without the drama, then you shouldn't have it.
There are three protagonists in this book (technically, one is an already dead character that keeps narrating the period before their death, 15 years ago, not sure if that doesn't demote them to "secondary" as if is established they are useless in the present, but considering how the other two protagonists have made her a core part of their character, maybe she deserves the label) and the personality of all of them is literally "the plot". They are obsessed with their past, which is where they show a modecum more personality, but modecum is all there is - we are dragged against our will with them as they rehash, repeatedly, the most mundane of events of a particular night, adding a thin layer of mystery so slowly that we all wonder if we weren't just happy with a single-layer offering. Their personality back then were relations with other people, and 15 years later, it seems to be about relations with the exact same people, the plot all about how the boring of the past can haunt us and turn into the boring of the present. This repetitive slap of "MC NPC" syndrome is also unnecessarily dragged out when new developments are then presented from the three uniquely boring point of views.
It feels rather funny, then, how the men in this book end up weirdly having more personality than the three lead women characters. Their personalities are either "piece of trash" or "creep" or "piece of creepy trash" exclusively, no exceptions, but that is *some* personality. That makes them somewhat deep as far as villains in a story go, I guess, but only in relative comparison to their surroundings. The result is how we have a story where I am *interested* in what happened with one particular character around who the entire plot revolves, even 15 years later, but I do not *care* what happened to her, or what is happening to the current character. By writing empty shells of personalities the author has convinced me they are caricatures of real people and circumstances, and the paper they were used to visualize only worth the space if you are really into caricatures. This is particularly damning because the author is trying to work in some really strong themes of intersex relationships, but clearly lacks the skill to present them in the impactful manner they deserve; it's almost like a mockery. Ultimately, all the book did was convince me that Eve was the lucky one, as it seems they all peaked at high school and at least she got out while on the top of her game.
About the performance: it is *excessively* good. Like, it's hilarious how much effort has been put in something that is ultimately so bland. It is like going into a 5 star restaurant, where the waiters are all professional ballet dancers, doing an exceptional choreographed passing of a plate among them while twirling around the room to serve you the chef's special, and it just ends up being a loaf of white bread, no spices. There are these parts with thrilling, almost epic sounding musical tracks, just for a character to be narrating the most boring triviality you could hear in a public bus. Everything about this offering is very "special", but the type of "special" which clearly does not equate "worthwhile".
P.S. This is 2 stars for the overall presentation, as it was clearly written as an audio drama and it worked out really well for it, the bland plot would have been a 1 star for at least somewhat keeping me interested until the end. I can't give it less than 1, I realize, but presentation aside it really has one thing going for it and it wouldn't be worth more than 1 star in consequence.
P. P. S. Special points for the *33 years old chief of police* protagonist, coincidentally married to the mayor and from a cop family, proudly announcing "I am the f-ing chief of police" out loud a few times. Ironically, being an obvious nepo baby, but clearly in denial about it is more of a personality than the rest of the protagonists got.