The Gatepost: A Novel

by Tim Weed

From the author of The Afterlife One woman’s quest to find her vanished father pushes her beyond the boundaries of space, time, and the human mind.

Esme Weatherhead was twelve years old when her father, an amateur scientist and the author of a bestselling book on Mesoamerican shamanism, walked into the forest on their rural Vermont property and never came back. Twenty years later, she quit her job in San Francisco, got divorced, and moved back home with the goal of writing a book about her father’s life and sudden vanishing.

In the course of her research, Esme uncovers an old field journal that describes a cave on the property she hadn’t known about, experiments involving high doses of psilocybin mushrooms, and a series of strangely vivid hallucinations. After searching unsuccessfully for the cave, she hires Lucas St. Pierre, a local geologist, to help her find it.

Now, as they work to unravel the mystery of her father’s disappearance, Esme and Lucas must confront hidden forces that will test their sanity and put their safety at risk, ultimately leading to new insights about love, death, and the hidden secrets of life on Earth.

Perfect for fans of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility, and Richard Powers’s Bewilderment, Tim Weed’s The Gatepost blends modern science and ancient cosmology to take readers on a journey offering hallucinatory glimpses into worlds beyond our own.

Praise for Tim Weed’s The Afterlife Project

“Smart, achingly beautiful, and (yes) a gripping novel of climate cataclysm with a cast of characters I cared about deeply.” ―Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Flight Attendant

“A super-smart, super-fun page-turner about a scientist trying to survive alone on Earth in the deep future―and the love of his life trying to travel through time to find him. I can’t think of a single page that didn’t make me pause to admire a sentence, an image, or a particularly fascinating idea. I loved this book.” ―Angie Kim, New York Times–bestselling author of Happiness Falls

“The Afterlife Project isn’t just a story about the end of the world as we know it―it’s an exploration of beauty, and love, and hope in the darkness. If you were a fan of Cloud Atlas, you won’t want to miss this one.” ―Janelle Brown, New York Times–bestselling author of What Kind of Paradise

“This beautiful and heartbreaking book reminds us of what we have, and what we stand to lose. Unforgettable.” ―Danielle Trussoni, New York Times–bestselling author of The Puzzle Master

“Riveting and wrenching and suffused with beauty.” ―Peter Heller, bestselling author of The Dog Stars

“Weed is a fabulous storyteller working at the top of his game. I predict this novel will become a classic.” —Joseph Monninger, author of The World As We Know It

“It’s a relatively simple idea, but Tim Weed makes it into something special with first-rate nature writing and a story that underlines how connected we all are to our human and physical environmen

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication May 26, 2026

About the author

Tim Weed is the author of four books of fiction. His recent novel, The Afterlife Project, was a best books of 2025 pick from Library Journal and the Toronto Star. He’s won multiple Writer’s Digest Annual Fiction Awards and his work has been shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Book Award, the Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction, the Prism Prize for Climate Literature, the Fish International Short Story Award, the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Award for a Novel-in-Progress, the New Rivers Many Voices Project, and many others. Tim's essays and articles have appeared in Writers Digest, Literary Hub, The Revelator, The Millions, The Writer’s Chronicle, Talking Points Memo, The Good Men Project, and elsewhere. His latest novel, The Gatepost, comes out May 26, 2026.

Read more at the author's official website.

Reviews

[Steven Budd]

In its most literal meaning, a gatepost is where a gate hangs open or closed. It might also signify a portal between realms. As metaphor, it may signify confidentiality or a secret. In Tim Weeds novel by that title, it represents all three.
As the novel begins, our protagonist, Esme, searches for her father, Dr. Gregory Weatherhead, a former archaeologist, who disappeared from the families rural Vermont homestead some decades before. As a researcher of indigenous Central American shamanic practices, Weatherhead leaves academia for a checkered future as a sometime maple syrup producer and self-described “independent researcher”. His departure from academe has much to do with his discoveries in Central America and his drive to understand and protect an important “artifact” that proves central to the story. What unfolds is a story of psychic exploration that ultimately absorbs Dr. Gregory in both body and soul.
Esme is certain that there are clues on the property that give reason to her father’s disappearance. Having recently divorced, Esme seeks closure for her father’s presumed death while seeking her own sense of purpose and happiness. Her search for her father is complicated when she retains the help of a young geologist and her desire for privacy and personal space comes into question. The intrigue rises further when a former colleague and family friend of Gregory Weatherhead appears on the scene. What follows is a race to uncover the truth which reveals much about human love and longing as well as the mysteries that surround human existence. Much is also revealed about human avarice and our propensity to rationalize greed and personal profit.
Weed takes on a lot of themes in this book, yet successfully weaves them into a narrative of love, loss, higher consciousness and with a readability that kept me on the edge of my seat.

[V.E. Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immediate thoughts after finishing.
I am very privileged to call Weed my mentor and am thankful for the e-ARC!

This is another great book by Tim Weed! The opening voice of Esme and her father set the tale up for an interesting ride. Written in third person with limited omnitience allowed me as a reader to follow along with a full cast of characters.
The twists and turns this took me on where complete left handed and even when I think I knew what was happening, nope pivoted! The beginning is a little on the slower side but the ending picks up speed and flies you to the ending quicker than I anticipated.
There were a few sections I would have loved to have gotten more detail from Weed's prose, specifically a romance section between our two mains. However this being a more closed door type of romance, and a subplot at that, I understand the lack of detail I am used to in these scenes.

Overall I highly recommend this and can safely say this wasn't something I would have picked up if I didn't know Weed's work previously. I plan to purchase several copies as gifts for some of my romance only friends that need to broaden their horizons!

[Sean Sandquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Gatepost is a genre-bending novel centered around a woman trying to find her missing father, and an ancient artifact that could hold the key to finding him. External forces are also interested in exploiting this artifact for their own means, making this story an intriguing adventure filled with action, mystery, and mysticism.

The writing in this book causes the reader to care about the main character and her quest to find the truth. The story is heartbreaking, fun, peculiar, and gripping. Readers will enjoy the book’s uniqueness and the escape from reality it provides.

My thanks to the publisher for sending me an Advance Reader Copy of this book. It was provided to me through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Everything stated in my review is my own opinion written in my own words.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Gatepost has all the trappings of a mystery thriller featuring mezoamerican history and mythology. Caves, mushrooms, carvings, backstabbing, geology, mystery. This book is for you if you enjoy a supernatural mystery.

Unfortunately, the ending explanation theory felt dismissive to the Olmec and other cultures referenced in the story. The author should consider rethinking how he is utilizing ancient cultures in his novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

[David Agranoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very rare that an author comes out of nowhere for me. Tim Weed was an author I admit I never heard of before last year, when his novel the Afterlife Project, showed up in my mail. I was not prepared for the scope of it. Part Generation Ship story, this novel dealt with environmental issues by telling our story over centuries. I loved this novel and thought it was a wonderful surprise.

So when another Tim Weed novel was offered to me, I jumped on it. The Gatepost will interest many of my Dickian fans, but I have to admit it is a topic that is a bit of a turn-off for me. This novel might work better for others, and could be a classic case of “it’s not you novel, it’s me.”

The back cover compares says it is “Perfect for fans of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, Emily St John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility, and Richard Powers’ Bewilderment.” Three books I admit I know nothing about. While it might sound hypocritical, Mesoamerica shaman mind expansion is just not a fictional topic that hooks me.

In the second half, there is a serious exploration of reality, and Weed does this by jumping in timelines. Esme is our point of view character and she is on the hunt for her missing father. The narrative investigates the disappearance, through his journals and high doses of Psilocybin Mushrooms.

The novel also starts with a chapter that is “Told” and not shown. Show don’t tell to me is a fundamental of storytelling, and Weed’s Afterlife Project had a built-in excuse to violate this rule; The Gatepost didn’t. The opening sentence, “Esme Weatherhead kept catching herself talking to a ghost.” This is a fine opening for the novel, but imagine if we were experiencing the conversation? What if it felt like a normal father-daughter conversation, and we slowly realized he wasn’t exactly alive?

This missed opportunity within the first pages colored my experience. There are neat revelations and interesting ideas in the novel for sure. It didn’t work for me as well as the Afterlife Project, a novel I thought was great. Now that being said, your mileage will vary. I have a feeling this book will connect with some readers deeply, it just didn’t totally work for me. Weed is a talented writer and I will continue to read his work.

[Krista B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to say that this book frustrated me incredibly. You can't compare a book to Piranesi and then expect me to NOT have high expectations.

OK, so the premise is that Esme's father got lost - we know that he's recently found a cave, and his abandoned journal details that he was experimenting with psilocybin mushrooms. Esme, freshly divorced, has relocated to her family's Vermont home in order to figure out what happened to him. Presumably, by following him down the path of enlightment via shrooms, and emerging into transcendence. I was primed for this, expecting it to be an extremely trippy and surreal experience.

By page 34, my hackles were up because EVERY SINGLE female character is described as petite. I don't know how to reconcile how literally awful I found this. EVERY ONE. And spoilers for later in the book, we finally meet one more female character, and at 84%, guess what? She's PETITE. WE GET IT. ALL WOMEN HAVE TO BE SKINNY TINY LITTLE ITTY HOT BABIES TO BE WORTHY OF BEING CHARACTERS. Literally the easiest way to identify a male author, in my opinion. Can we please have one normal woman? Even the old curandera woman is petite? LIKE PLEASE!

Our male main character, Lucas, is introduced. He is also freshly divorced, and he arrives on Esme's property to help her assess and look for the cave. Immediately from both POVs we are treated to a description of how attracted he is to her, and how she definitely knows it. Okay, I'm sighing heavily. Fine. He's also described as "boots on the ground" handsome which made me laugh because... what? He's not military. He's a divorced dad of a teenager who is like a geologist contractor who's hard on his luck.

Also, adding to his lack of military-ness, we're pretty quickly introduced to the actual villain of this book, a cartoonishly horrible man named Sebastian Bonney who is trying to find the stela that Esme has found on her property. His single-minded devotion to unsubtly trying to pry at literally everyone, and the incredible amounts of money he's spent on an archaeological site mentioned decades ago by Esme's vanished father, do not read as particularly frighteningly obsessive, as I think the author was trying to go for. Instead, he reads as a hamhanded villain who is so pushy that it made me roll my eyes how easily he fooled Lucas.

This actually leads to one of the most frustrating parts of the book, in which suddenly Lucas and Esme's passionate fling (sigh) is interrupted by a Miscommunication in which Esme gets absurdly mad at Lucas for not telling her for all of 24 hours that his new employer is.... Sebastian. She actually kicks him out of the house for betraying her, unforgivably, but I'm sorry, I literally could not understand what she was so mad about. He told her! What more do you want! Sorry it took a little longer than you wanted!

There is so little movement in this plot. My biggest pet peeve is that there is literally no sense of mystery. The book has zero forward movement besides Esme & Lucas having their thing and taking shrooms. We ALSO do not even get the joy of slowly revealing what's going on in the 'inframundo' - we are literally shown Gregory within the first few chapters, wandering around in an empty wasteland full of scree, odd rock formations, and more mushrooms. Nothing happened here. He doesn't need to eat, he just wanders and occasionally appears to haunt Esme through the barrier between worlds.

AND WHAT MADE ME SO MAD AT THE END? I think the author was trying to go for some bittersweet revelation. Esme's father, at the end, sits down to rest and gets eaten by some mushrooms. Esme sells the stela which was causing all the problems, and she never finds her father. Somewhere near the end, Sebastian storms her property with a comical amount of manpower, and they syringe Lucas, only to have him literally have a scene pages later where he's up and walking around (?), and then a scene immediately afterwards where everyone's finding his body on the ground because he got syringed. I actually flipped back to see if I could figure out if it was a flashback, but I think something got missed in editing. There are a lot of repeated phrases throughout the book and information repeated to us multiple times, as well as scenes that largely did not add to the book at all.

NOTHING MATTERS. THE END. We BARELY even got to see the promised 'inframundo' (the Mesoamerican concept of hell/the underworld). Esme's dad wanders around, reflects on how he doesn't need to take a dump, he tries to find landmarks, then he gets eaten by mushrooms. Esme is hot and petite, she takes some shrooms, she is really shrewish at Lucas for no reason, then she gives up and donates the stela to a museum. Lucas arrives, receives some weirdly adult advice from his teenage daughter who has no personality besides affirming him, he falls in lust with itty bitty teeny weenie Esme because she's so slender but so strong, they have crazy sex, he is a total wimp and is fooled by the villain and then drugged out, totally incapable of defending the property, and then he .... I don't even know.

I am so sorry, I wanted so much more for this book and I finished it feeling absolutely cheated and in disbelief that that... was... it. HUH?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

[Bob Schueler · Rating 5 out of 5]

In THE GATEPOST, as in his previous novel, THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT, Tim Weed takes on the existential challenge of climate change and the ways people confront it. He manages to avoid preaching and lecturing by weaving the elements artfully into his plots, and by challenging his main characters to address the effects in their own lives. Whereas he explores the science of climate change in AFTERLIFE through characters directly involved in confronting it, in GATEPOST he digs deeper into the philosophical and spiritual challenges the threat presents to those of us not as directly involved with addressing it. In every generation, there are writers whose stories to reflect social issues of their time and place, and Weed is showing himself to be an outstanding representative of his.
Both novels are engaging romantic adventures in which his characters display a worldliness based on hard experience and the courage to face life without illusions. Because they’re old enough to have taken their lumps, the ways they approach their developing relationships are grounded without being cynical or naïve. Presenting them as more seekers than strivers gives him the opportunity to explore issues of spirituality and philosophy in a manner that is fully oriented to our time while simultaneously resurrecting and illuminating Mesoamerican practices and beliefs. The depth of his interest and research enables him to draw us into that world and, if not to share, at least to appreciate his passion for it. By showing the different ways his characters search for meaning in life and their efforts to make a contribution, he tells us a lot about ourselves and our own culture.
As usual, his elegant writing firmly grounds us in place through vivid and immersive descriptions of the natural world, both in his native Vermont and Oaxaca, Mexico. In GATEHOUSE, his characters use psychedelics in a serious quest for understanding. Weed uses their spiritual experimentation effectively to explore the stresses we all experience when confronting the impending climate catastrophe. What is most remarkable is his use of the gradual development of romantic commitment between his two main characters to help them maintain hope. The two parallel stories follow father and daughter. Sixteen years previous, Esme’s father disappeared when she was twelve and is presumed dead. We follow his quest, in an earlier timeline, to literally go deep, using psychedelics in the presence of an ancient idol while attempting to recreate a Mesoamerican spiritual journey. In present time, Esme tries to use the same psychedelics and statue to somehow connect with him by recreating his experience. Weed uses their experiences to illustrate the ways we might confront the inevitability of death, not just of the individual but of humanity, life, and the planet itself, and he manages it all without becoming maudlin. While he has his characters face these challenges, he grants them the courage to maintain hope as they confront the essential hopelessness of the human condition, and he even leaves us with a vivid image of a graceful end.
In that, both this and his earlier novel represent a rare gift to his readers.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very interested in reading Tim’s newest book, which followed the success ofThe Afterlife Project.So when he asked for readers for the manuscript I said, “Hell, yes.”

The book arrived via epub so I was able to download it via my Apple books app. I actually like reading some books electronically, but it isn’t my first choice. However, for Tim’s book it made no difference. Although I am a slow reader, the story kept me captivated and wanting to keep turning pages,

I was thinking, more or less, it was going to be along the same plot lines of the Afterlife Project, thinking there was more to say in that novel. I wanted to know more about this world so many thousands of years into the future, but it was not disappointing in The Gatepost of being introduced to Esmeralda “Esme” Weatherhead, the daughter of her missing father, Gregory, a Mesoamerican archeologist, and his wife, Silvana Rodríguez, from Oaxaca.

A couple other seminal characters include Lucas St. Pierre, a geologist, who becomes a love interest with Esme, and Sebastian Bonney, a British oligarch who unfortunately reminded me of Elon Musk. Debbie, as he is known to Esme, was friends with Gregory, but Esme has no love or respect for him

The other major character is Zoraida, a Zapotec curandera.

As in the Afterlife Project, there are multiple shifts in time from June 2004, when Greg disappears, to March 2024 & July 2024, the current present time of the book. The locations change too: Corinth, Vermont; Montpelier; Oaxaca; to mysterious caves and ancient artifacts.

What makes the book so interesting is the mystery surrounding Gregory’s disappearance.

The use of drugs like Psilocybin mushrooms, which Gregory, and later Esme and Lucas use facilitate the piercing of the veil between the physical and the other unknown world. Esme believes her father is still alive or exists in another dimension.

In lesser hands, these concepts might distract you, and if you are of my age, to think of the book that explored magic mushrooms of the 1970s written by anthropologist and shaman, Carlos Castaneda, called  The Teachings of Don Juan.

The Gatepost will keep you reading enjoyably to its end, and hoping for a sequel.

Oh, postscript, living in Vermont as I do, the caricature of the face and nose of the Governor in the book, as described by Tim, seems recognizable to me as former Governor Peter Shumlin (2011-2017). I wonder if I am correct in this observation?

[Ian Jamieson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gatepost is a story of deep meaning embedded in the timeless story of human hope, love and truth. Set in the beautiful state of Vermont in the US, a daughter searches for closure in her scientist father's disappearance. In her search, as a young determined woman, she ventures into other realms of non-ordinary states of consciousness. What she finds is a truth that is more profound than she can imagine.

The author, Tim Weed, a Vermonter himself, paints a picture of the State and it's characters that has substance and honesty. As romantic love grows for daughter Esme with her partenaire, the young geological surveyor, the establishment forces set against her mount. Discovering her father's path to another realm, known to the ancient Mesoamericans, the answer to his disappearance emerges, an answer that points to an alternative reality.

Reminiscent of Terrance McKenna's book, “The Invisible Landscape" and Aldous Huxley's book, “Island”, Tim Weed weaves a wonderful story around a profound truth – our reality is just the surface of a deeper, more meaningful reality, which can give us all insight into saving humanity.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and learned a good amount about geology along the way as well as some ancient methods of Shamanism.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Weed's latest novel explores the role of psychedelic experiences in ancient indigenous ritual, weaving a convincing, exciting narrative with well-researched cultural references. The Gatepost's lyrical descriptions of natural environments are even richer than those in the author's previous works, and he returns again, with great success, to the principles of quantum mechanics, perfectly integrating what might otherwise be obtuse concepts seamlessly into the story. The reader's mind swims with the possibilities implied by the spooky-action science, even to the point of imagining that the fictional scenario they're reading might exist in some meta-reality.

Informative without being dry, insightful without being preachy, Weed's prose is polished and powerful here, with echoes of Michael Pollan, Crouch's Recursion and the themes of Ancient Apocalypse. For anyone who has peered at their own reflection and wondered what might happen if they reached out and through to the other side, this sci-fi thriller is the transcendent adventure you've been searching for.

Hold on tight, prepare yourself for the journey that begins at The Gatepost.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Podium Publishing for the ARC.

[Betsy Petrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel has it all - intrigue, suspense, beauty, romance, science, otherworldliness.

Tim Weed's prose is both beautiful and haunting. Beautiful when it's about family, love and nature. Haunting when it's about otherworldliness.

There are four main characters, Esme Weatherhead, Gregory Weatherhead, Lucas St. Pierre and Sebastian Bonney. Gregory is Esme's father, Lucas is Esme's love interest and Sebastian is Gregory's friend and graduate school roommate.

Each of these four characters is searching for something extremely elusive. At times, it's ethereal, at other times, it's material, and then it's somewhere in between.

The story toggles between the 1980s, the early 2000s and 2024 as well as Vermont and Mexico, yet its arc remains consistent. A family is suffering from tragedy. One person does whatever it takes to help them while another does whatever it takes to destroy them.

The twists and turns, coupled with alluring prose, makes this novel a real page turner. It culminates in a whopper of an ending.

[Amy Bucher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so hope this book is just the beginning! The Gatepost has all my favorite elements - endearing central characters, a solid villain, abundant archaeological revelations, an unfolding mystery. With a healthy dose of Indiana Jones, a splash of Nancy Drew, and dash of C.S Lewis’s Space Trilogy, The Gate Post is an engrossing, thought provoking and thoroughly enjoyabe read that entertains while raising fascinating questions about the possibility of a multiverse in which reality plays out on parrallel tracks. This is a book for all who wonder what might have happened if they had taken the other branch at the fork in the road. Add to all of that a layer of romance that is sweet and believable, forging a team that I would follow on numerous adventures - especially if they continued in the realm of discovery about ancient civilizations, and the interconnectedness of everything. More quests, more mysteries, more pyschadelic adventures please, for Esme and Lucas!

[Raquel Levitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told from multiple perspectives, The Gatepost is a seamless blend of eco-fiction, suspense, and science fiction about Esmie, a young woman who gives up her career and marriage and moves back to her childhood home, determined to finally solve the mystery that has haunted her for twenty years: how and why did her father simply vanish? With the help of Lucas, a local geologist, she not only discovers the cave where her father conducted the research that ultimately led to his disappearance, but the vast secret the cave keeps. Tim Weed’s novel is multi-layered, delving into themes of time (both geological and human), consciousness, love, life, and death. With an added element of suspense, and even a hint of romance, it’s a page-turning must read.

[Patrick D. Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Archaeological expeditions, mind-altering mushrooms, redemptive romance, family saga, a climactic heist, and a villain straight out of James Bond. The Gatepost is thrilling, moving, scientific, and philosophical all at once, in a way only Tim Weed knows how to do. The story continues his investigation into themes that run throughout his books — humankind’s place in the vast expanse of nature and the infinite scale of deep geological time, an admiration and respect for ancient customs and shamanic ritual, and the meaningfulness found in both solitude and companionship — in a way that feels both completely fresh and authentically his own. I couldn’t put it down! (I received an advance copy from the publisher.)

[Claude Rothman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Weed's The GatePost is a delightful, layered suspense novel.

An American Mesoamerican culture expert is entrusted with safeguarding a valuable art object. He disappeared a while later, leaving it unguarded. Twenty years later, you and the scientist's daughter will investigate, suspect, and discover why and how it happened, as well as the culprit.

Now, I crave returning to Vermont in spring or summer and discovering Oaxaca, Mexico, with its Zapotec ruins and the Museum of Anthropology. Tim Weed's love is evident in his extraordinary descriptions of people, settings, and food.

As a snail reader, I devoured the 245 pages in less than two weeks. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

[Isabella Strazza · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that transcends genre, weaving various points of view surrounding a young woman’s search for how and why her father disappeared years ago, The Gatepost delves into reality and variations of it, as well as a love of family and a journey of self-discovery. Well-paced, with a splash of romance, I could not put this book down. I was initially drawn in by the mysterious elements, but I stayed for the characters and the switches between points of views that kept me turning the page, needing to know what happened next in both timelines. I will be recommending this book to my friends and family and I can’t wait for it to be out in the world.

[Julia Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Gatepost is an intriguing and fast paced read. I had loved The Afterlife Project from the same writer and so was excited to read his latest book. It does not disappoint.

The book takes place in Vermont and Oaxaca, Mexico. Weed does a great job moving between the two locations, moving through time and moving through the different worlds of indigenous beliefs and western approaches to those cultures. This story offers lots of interesting ideas as well as a riveting storyline. I can not recommend it enough.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book from this author. Very readable with well developed characters. Interesting dive into Mesoamerican archaeology and strange goings on. Enjoyed afterlife project slightly more probably with my interests leaning to dystopian worlds. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

[Amanda_Straw_Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very unique book! Mystical, creepy, mystery, love story- kind of had a little bit of everything. The writing style was very very descriptive. Book kept me guessing and had a few unexpected twists. Very enjoyable book that I think will appeal to many different tastes. Definitley enjoyed this one! Thank you very much to Shelf Awareness and Podium for the ARC.