The Incident on the Bridge

by Laura McNeal

The last anyone saw of Thisbe Locke, she was standing by a car on the side of the bridge.

She’d been depressed since she stopped seeing Clay, who humiliated her in front of everyone at his party. But would Thisbe really jump because of that?

Her sister swears she wouldn’t.

The police know that grief-stricken families always hope for a different ending. And that decisions about jumping can be made in an instant.

Either way, there’s no sign of Thisbe.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Thriller, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Mystery Thriller

336 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 2016

Reviews

[Sherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book opens with everyone knowing that Thisbe was last seen on the long bridge that divides their home town. Everyone thinks she was so depressed from recent events that she chose to kill herself by jumping from the bridge. Yet…her younger sister Ted refused to believe that Thisbe would kill herself and sets out to prove the whole town wrong.

Despite the interesting premise, this will be a tough book for teens to get through the first half of because it moves at a glacier’s pace and has an extreme number of narrators (about a dozen) who tell their story in the past and present. However, for those that stick with the story, there is a tipping point where the book becomes a tension-filled race to the end to find out what really happened to Thisbe.

Thisbe was on the straight path to a top college and didn’t let anything distract her from pursuing As in her senior year AP classes. Thisbe did have a little crush on Jerome, but never pursued it. When a mystery guy starts leaving her sweet fortune cookie messages, Thisbe falls deep in love--never minding that they turn out to be from her classmate Clay, a drug dealer.

Thisbe doesn’t know (or maybe doesn’t care) that he’s the type of guy who uses girls faster than a guy with a cold going through Kleenex. She’s never felt these feelings before, never really been in love before--she’s been so academically focused. After Clay gets her to sleep with him, he dumps her; he only wanted Thisbe because she looked like a tough conquest. This rejection plays out in a big public way at a teen party where Thisbe is humiliated and scorned by Clay which sends her into a tumbling spiral of depression, drinking, and poor choices.

Dark feelings of revenge lead to Thisbe stealing Clay’s car and driving it over the big bridge that separates her town, but what happens after she stops that car and gets out is what makes for an interesting story where the narrators include Thisbe herself, the police, a psychotic, Jerome (Clay’s best friend), and Ted (Thisbe’s sister), just to name a few. As you hear the story from the different points of view, new clues emerge in Thisbe’s disappearance that keep you reading until the definitive ending which reads like a stand-alone story.

[Maci · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was initially interested in this book because it was a mystery and the plot seemed interesting. However, when I was faced with 6 (estimating, could've been 5) different POVs, it started to get less interesting and more confusing. I thought that it would be more centered on her disappearance, but it felt thrown together, as the different POVs were indirectly connected and some of them just included flashbacks of Thisbe's life. Half of the book was her life before, and then the second half was about the people searching for her piecing together the clues quite quickly. The man, Frank, who kidnapped Thisbe, could only be labeled as a psycho who was burdened with a sad and dark past, because that's all I could figure out about him. The book had potential.

[Angie Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very good

[Camden Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't have that many expectations for the book so I wasn't that disappointed with the book. I was interested in the plot of this book which follows a girl named Thisbe, who goes missing after catching her (ex?)-boyfriend cheating on her. The story had several POVs which usually aren't that confusing for me but I feel as though the author added too many which made it all seemed jumbled together. The mystery is solved within 10 chapters of the book so it is kind of lame in that regard. Another problem I had with the book was that it focused too much on relationships, drugs, and partying rather than the girl who is missing. I just felt like it could've been better and that the mystery could have been more interesting than it was.

[Sarah Owen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had so much hope for the book but was really disappointed. the author tried (and failed) to examine the incident from a variety of views and some were completely useless and never resolved- like the police officer who was watching on the camera. completely useless except she ended up meeting the cab driver. the rest was filled with incredibly blatant attempts at foreshadowing. I mean how any times are you going to mention the pink boots then the pink boots being lost then omg the pink boots. I wanted to know more about Thisbe- how she was reacting, becoming stronger but only got glimpses. read the entire thing"r and the "rescue was completely ridiculous. read it and luckily it was quick read otherwise don't waste your time

[K.E. Woodruff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not really sure what to say about this one. After reading almost half the book, I put it down. Within a few chapters, you already know what the "incident" was. And it was nothing mysterious or jaw-dropping. Besides the "incident," much of the book is little more than a random teen fiction filled with language, drug references, sexual references, sporty cars, attractions, and relationship issues.

[Trisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this one but I could never really get into it. I'm not sure if the small chapters and few words would draw me in but it left me guessing the outcome early on and feeling frustrated the pages were taking so long to end.

[Sophia Lin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book took me forever to read because it was boring and confusing, I thought the plot would get better in the end but it didn't and it ended really confusingly and abruptly, it seemed like the author could have wrote another twenty pages but she didn't.

[Carlye Krul · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was kinda confusing with all the POVs and such. Wouldn’t really recommend.

[Hannah O'Rourke]

Thisbe is not a popular girl, but her sister is. Her sister is only fourteen while Thisbe is standing at 16 and her sister gets hit on by all the upperclassman. One day Thisbe's family was out of the house for a game and when Thisbe woke up she heard a knock. When she opened up the door she saw a fortune cookie with a fortune in it thinking it was a promposal for her sister which I thought was pretty sad because Thisbe should get some attention too. No one was around so she didn't know who the cookie was from but she slipped out the fortune because if it was her sisters she wouldn't notice if she only slipped it out. It said to trust my Thisbe so now she knew it was for her. The cookie also had lucky numbers that stayed consistent throughout the whole book. She got multiple cookies all with different sayings but the last one was also the cutest. It said dinner at Clayton's? Thisbe finally found out who made the cookies and it was a boy named clay Moorehead and he was very sweet to Thisbe. Thisbe agreed and little did I know this was a start to a very complicated relationship but we love some juicy conflicts am I right? Now this part I am going to explain is a look into the future. Thisbe went to the bay like she always had to calm down, but she was not the same Thisbe. Not after her and Clays fight. He humiliated her at a party in front of everyone. she went to the bay and watched the boats but not just any boat, Clays boat. He lived on his parent's yacht while his parents were in Mexico for the summer. When Thisbe went up to look at it she saw girls flip flops and decided to wait for whoever it was to leave. It was getting late and she didn't want her mom to worry so she lied and said she was going to stay at a friends house. When they finally left the girl who got out was named Isabel and Thisbe figured they were going to Starbucks or a hangout place to do drugs. Clay was a dealer and everyone knew it. Thisbe knew where his spare keys to his boat and his car were so she inspected the boat and found only old food and one of his stashes. She had nothing else to do so she did something I would probably do too, she went for a drive. I am not that far in this book but so far I really like and recommend it to anyone who likes mysteries as I do.

[JennanneJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda fun to read about my town and know all the landmarks they talk about!

[Shannon Fay]

This book was sitting out, because I was going to unhaul it, until my sister informed me that i was actually HER book. Anyway, since it was lying about, I decided to pick it up and glance over the first few pages. Then I found myself reading on, and exactly 47 pages into it, I decided that it wasn't for me and that while I did want to know the end result of this mystery, I didn't care enough to read the whole book, but just enough to read a few random pages throughout the book, and then the very end. So that's all I rea, which is why I'm not marking this book as "read," because I really didn't read it. It's also why I'm not rating it, because I feel it's unfair to rate a book that you've read less that a quarter of.

That said, I need only read that much to know that this book is not for me. the pacing feels VERY slow. While the story revolves more or less around a single girl, there are too many narrators for my taste. Each chapter more or less stars with "arbitrary person doing this thing sees/hears/says something that's related to this girl." Seriously, the first chapter is her narration, the second is some guy who sees her and thinks about her, the third is hers, the fourth is some passerby who sees her describing the encounter with her, the fifth is the camera operator who is on her phone not noticing her car on the bridge right away, the sixth is someone else, and the seventh is the sheriff investigating her car, etc. And while the whole book is narrated in third person, it's written in that type of third person that's from someone's perspective. (You know the whole "as she wrote the review, she thought about how to structure the sentence, so that it would make sense to anyone who might read the review, though she knew the chances of anyone reading it were fairly slim" thing. The narrator isn't me, but they're narrating MY thoughts and actions.) Each chapter is like that, where the omniscient narrator narrates the thoughts and actions of some person in relation to the main character. There are few chapters that she actually narrates herself, so I feel like I probably wouldn't have gotten to know her character that well. And honestly, but page 47, I didn't care, because I was sick of listening to people observe her and think about her, etc. Also, by page 47, there were so many people who had thoughts about her or used their pieces of interaction with her to tell the story, that I didn't care about any of THEM either. At first, I was confused with how they related to the story, then I realized it didn't really matter who they were (except for maybe "Julia's brother") because they were only part of this story to tell hers. And I was bored by that so I started skimming to only the chapters told by Thisbe herself, or by the one guy that I cared to read about.

Also, this whole book is about this girl, and in the first few chapters, she goes tot he top of this bridge, gets out of the car, and disappears (so all the chapters are talking about her disappearance, investigating it, speculting on why she jumped, etc. That's how the book can be written in the third person pseudo perspective of tons of people, but still be ABOUT her). Anyway, so she disappears from the top of this bridge, and pretty quickly, once they realize it was her, people start thinking she jumped, but her sister insists she would never do that. So the whole premise of the book is WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? Maybe, just maybe, is the sister right, did something else happen? And if the sister is wrong, then the whole book will be a very 13 Reasons Why-esque book, where we explore WHY she jumped. (Which, incidentally, I think I would have liked that better than what the book actually was, because I really enjoy deep explorations of tragic issues and damaged characters. In Thirteen Reasons Why we begin the story knowing the girl killed herself, so the whole book is about what drove her to that decision, and I thought this book would be like that. It was not.)

Now by page 47, where I decided I no longer gave a fuck, we were just getting started, and in the last chapter I completed, the cops were investigating the car on the bridge, and had yet to even determine whose it was, let alone that SHE was the one in it. (And from what else I skimmed, I can definitely say that things develop at a pretty glacial pace, and for me, that's a problem, because the whole point of mysteries is to be exciting and keep us guessing, not crawl around until we're bored to tears and don't care anymore.)
Ok, but also, more importantly, by the time, by the time page 47 rolled around, and the cops had just started to investigate whose car it was, but hadn't even connected our main character TO the car on the top of the bridge, I had already FIGURED IT OUT. yep, that's right, I had already (ok, not spot on for every detail, but the big thing, yeah) I had already guessed that. I didn't figure out the exact details, but I definitely knew who, because we had read a chapter from him, and it was, to me anyway, INCREDIBLY obvious. I mean, hello, the sister doesn't believe she killed herself. If you know that and read his first chapter, it's pretty obvious, and then the rest of the book just becomes a wait to see WHEN the rest of the cast finally pieces together whodunnit. Snooze.

I'm trying terribly hard not to give anything, in case anyone who reads this does actually want to read the book. I really don't want to spoil anything for anyone. But I do want to explain why I read 47 pages, then decided to read about 5 more (tops), spread throughout the book and spoil the end for myself, because I cared just enough to want to know what happened, but not enough to read more than about 5 pages in total to figure it out, and certainly not enough to read the rest of the book, or even the next chapter. (page 47 ios the beginning of a new chapter, and I read about 3 words into this new chapter before I quit, so really, I guess I dnf-ed on page 46, lol.)

Anyway, I decided to dnf, because I didn't care for the way the story was set up. As I said, I was hoping more for a 13 Reasons type of story, and this is a different kind of book. That's not necessarily a bad thing, different isn't bad at all, it's just not what I had expected going in. I'm a very particular reader, and there are certain kinds of books I care for, and others that just don't do it for me. I expected this book to be a certain kind of book, and it was a different kind. Like I said, not bad, but it turned out to be a kind of book that I don't care for. And more specifically than the kind of book it was, I didn't like the story was TOLD. I didn't like that there were a ton of narrators. Ok, not narrators, because it's third person, but I didn't care for that third person perspective thing from a hundred different viewpoints. In the beginning I tried to remember who all these new characters that were introduced every chapter were, but, thankfully, I quickly realized the story was only about this one girl, so it didn't REALLY matter who was telling it. Like I said before, on chapter was pseudo-narrated by a passerby on the bridge, another by a camera operator, and another by a cop. I didn't need to care who any of those people were, because the story isn't' about them and their lives, at least not to me. But I think that would have been another thing I didn't like, because I think as time went on, Thisbe's story would have become also about their lives, their reactions to what happened with her, how they fit into her life, how what happened with her affected them and their community, etc., and that was't the book I started this intending to read. And lastly, I didn't care for the pacing of this book. It felt VERY slow to me. I just felt like in the almost 50 pages that I read, not a whole lot happened or was revealed. I just feel like I usually get... MORE out of the first 50 pages of books than I did with this one. Oh, and you know what else ticked me off? The first chapter is longer than all the others, because it's setting things up. So it's this scene, we get introduced to the girl, see some things happen, then all of a sudden, somewhere in the middle of the chapter, there's a paragraph break, (it's obvious we're changing gears and moving on to a different topic), but there's a short time jump, and BAM, it's days or maybe even weeks later. We're not sure, but it's definitely SOME time later, and we aren't told this, we have to figure this out by piecing together the fact that she's mad at someone she was just talking to in the last paragraph, that her whole mood has changed, etc. It's a little thing, and I don't need the author to write in brackets ["some time later"] because I'm an idiot who can't put things together, but this little jump did throw me for a second and leave me feel like I was missing something, and I feel like it wouldn't been that hard to write it so that it was slightly more clear that what I was reading then was just a little after what I had previously read. It seriously took me like a page and a half to put together that there was a time jump, and then I was like, "oh, ok, so what happened with this guy in that time?" (which I suppose is part of what lead her to the top of the bridge, so we aren't supposed to know). but I shouldn't be confused for a whole damn page and half, reading and thinking WHAT? I should be able to read and pretty immediately know that this is later, and gather that -something- happened in between that time, but that I don't know what. It really is a little thing, because I kept reading and I figured that out, then I continued reading, and started to piece together what I thought might have happened in that short time, and I guess that's the way this book was supposed to go, that was the point, you were supposed to keep reading, and every chapter was supposed to be like a puzzle piece, clicking into place until we finally realize what happened. But given all of the things I didn't care for in those first 47 pages, I didn't WANT to keep reading and collecting puzzle pieces, I just wanted to skip ahead to the finished puzzle, look at it once, and then move on to the next thing.

So end result: (or TL;DR, which I think is supposed to be above the body of the writing, but oh well), this book isn't necessarily bad, there were just some things that weren't for me. I've got specific tastes and I like reading certain types of books, and thankfully I know my tastes/preferences enough to very quickly pick up on when I'm not gonna care for a book. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the book, I'm sure lots of people will like it, it just means that it's not the books I like to read. And since there are sooo many books that I'm dying to read that are 100% exactly my taste, I just don't see the point in wasting my time reading something that I won't personally enjoy. Since my tastes aren't everyone's though, I still encourage anyone who is interested in this book to pick it up and give it a shot. Just because I'm not into something, doesn't mean that tons of other people aren't.

[Christina Spriggle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick easy read with short chapters! I don't find myself reading mysteries too often but I liked this one! Especially getting the perspective from multiple characters in the storyline!

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

After senior Thisbe Locke disappears from the Coronado Bridge, many rumors swirl around her disappearance. While most of the town's citizens--and even the local law enforcement officials--are sure that she has committed suicide, her younger sister Ted remains convinced that her sister never would have tried to end her life. While it's true that she's been upset about her breakup with local bad boy Clay Moorehead and the downward spiral that has caused her grades to drop, Thisbe just wouldn't have killed herself. Ted teams up with Fen, a teen boy who is dealing with his own losses, to try to solve the mystery behind Thisbe's whereabouts. Since the story is told from several points of view, including Thisbe's, readers are given clues as to what happened through a series of flashbacks and personal experiences surrounding this girl. While I enjoyed the writing, the suspense, and the many points of view, including that of Frank, her kidnapper, I found it hard to believe that he had managed to exist below the radar for so long and wasn't sure what made her such a perfect target fro him. The author does a great job, though, of providing insight into how Frank's mind was working and his frustration and anger at how all his plans were unraveling just because of a lost bank card. While some readers will be quickly caught up in the failed "romance" between Thisbe and Clay, which seems quite believable, others will be intrigued by trying to unravel the mystery behind her whereabouts.

[Bec · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was okay. The backstory to the crime was good.

But I found the switching of POV a bit of a headache. I'll note here that I did read this as an audiobook - whether that took away from the story I'm not sure. But I was confused in the beginning of the book, kinda got it by halfway through but by then I wasn't invested in the story. And at the end I felt like summing up ALL the characters was tedious and I just didn't really care.

It was a fine story to pass the time, the writing style was enjoyable and comfortable if you took away the POV changes throughout the book. But there are other crime/mystery/thriller books that I would recommend before this one.

[S]

DNF. I can't read anymore because I find absolutely no satisfaction in a mystery that a) I pretty much know everything about already (undoubtedly some plot twists will appear in the middle, but I already know what happened to Thisbe), and b) there are about a dozen POVs and I cannot focus on the story when I'm reading short chapters about random people. Books are supposed to make me care, and this one failed to.

[Molly Bandel (Albert) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been meaning to pick up a Laura McNeal title for a while now and was very excited to see an advanced reader's copy of her latest story! I enjoyed *The Incident on the Bridge* from start to finish. If you love suspense, action, and unique character names, this is a must read!

[Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderfully written book. Told from many points of view the story allows the reader to see all the effects of a suicide. The speculation and the grief of things left unsaid by those around Thisbe, but it's not always what you think.

[Rebecca Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a YA author I've encountered but enjoyed this immensely. I was fortunate to pick up a preview copy at mid-winter ALA in Boston and happy to have done so.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the books that you really have to be in the mood for -- intriguing when you are, and when you're not, it's not.

[Amelia-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good middle school level read. There's no mystery in the storyline though. Being from Coronado it was great to read and be able to imagine the setting.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 3 out of 5]

McNeal, Laura The Incident on the Bridge, 326 pages. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2016. $17.99. Language: R (17 swears, 4 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG-13 (underage drinking, sexual discussions, mention of suicide and depression, effects of grief, mental illness) Violence: PG-13 (Kidnapping)

Thisbe Locke had her heart broken by Clay at the party three days ago, so when she disappears without a trace on a bridge known for its plethora of suicides, everyone assumes she jumped. Her sister however, has her doubts. Thisbe is afraid of heights, she thinks. Thisbe wouldn’t jump for a cruel boy who treated her badly. But if Thisbe Locke did not jump, and is not in the water below, then where in the world is she?

The Incident on the Bridge surprised me. The author takes an average teen thriller plot and uses it as a vehicle to pen an intimately written, multiple-perspective character study that reveals itself to the reader with precision and a bucket load of raw but understated emotion. The writing style is a bit shocking at first, and in truth I felt unmoored by its uniqueness and detail. This book sets itself apart as a singular thing, but if you can get used to the almost stream of consciousness voice, you’ll find a story brimming with feeling and genuine human empathy. The only complaint I have is the mildly abrupt ending.

HS- OPTIONAL. Student Reviewer: JD, 12th grade
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2017/...

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a First Reads Review. I admit that I have been a little behind on these so I apologize.

This book is similar to many books I have read in the YA genre. A girl mysteriously disappears and questions remain as to what happened. Did she commit suicide? The police say yes but her family says no. The answer to this question is revealed surprisingly early in the book, which I guess creates dramatic irony, but the result is also a disappointing lack of suspense. I have read other books like Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, and several other YA novels whose titles escape me at the present that are much more suspenseful than this one.

I thought the book was just okay. I didn't have much sympathy for the main character, and I am not sure why that is. Maybe because I know a lot of people who have it WAY worse than she does. Maybe it's because of the whole teenage angst thing, but I have to say the novel was quite unbelievable. Everything was solved too quickly and neatly and that just isn't realistic. It is a quick read and I was thankful for that, but it is just not my favorite. I do think my students might enjoy it more than I did so I do look forward to seeing what they think.

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I'm pleasantly surprised by this book. I read a bunch of reviews and thought I'd hate it, but it actually got me early on. I will agree that the a million and one point of views got a little confusing at times, but I got over it as I learned new important things about what was going on. I like the romance played a big part in this, failed romance at first, the missed-connections crush going on between Jerome and Thisbe, and that romance was hinted at between Ted and Fen but that wasn't their main drive.

I wanted to scream at Thisbe for falling for Clay's seduction charms. Especially since she loved his best friend, like come on girl, I know you're not used to guys and what not but for god sake everyone knows that if you want to get with a guy you don't sleep with his best friend. I wanted Clay to be punished better he needed to feel bad for his actions and what not, which I don't think he did. And I'm more than a little surprised that everyone gets a HEA, it all ended a little bit too neatly if you ask me.

[Sara McGahey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was good. The main issue I had was the writing style. I like how the author was able to weave multiple viewpoints in the same story and had details that showed that characters took notice of interactions with other characters. For example, someone rode their bike past someone while they were playing tennis and then when they moved on to the other persons perspective they mentioned they noticed the other person riding past on the bike. The issue I had however was how memories were handled. The author would be talking about how a character was thinking about something and then they would think about a past event and there was nothing used to differentiate that it was a memory of a past event. So as you’re reading it just seems like the story switches topics quickly with no explanation. Otherwise, it was an interesting story to read.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok the cool thing about this book is it's based on Coronado Bridge here in San Diego,Ca where I have lived most my life (not in Corondo but close by) anyways this is a story where a young lady named Thisbe takes her ex-boyfriends car to the bridge and leaves it and before long people think she has jumped to her death because she disappears and they figure she was depressed by the way Clay had treated her at a recent party but Ted (sister to Thisbe) doesn't believe that she jumped she beleives she is missing..with help from different people they do find her but you will have to read to find out hwo and where..the story goes back and forth from different people including Thisbe,Ted,Carl(cop)Fen(Carl's nephew) and others..good book

[Jesi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof. Actual rating 1.5 stars. I struggled so hard to get through this book. I tried to trudge through the beginning with hopes that it would improve, but no luck there. The premise is intriguing; a girl who may have jumped to her death, but no body is found to confirm the fatality. However, the novel fell very very short. Between many counts of passive racism, too many narrators that aren't fleshed out enough to give you any real attachment to them, unnecessary descriptions, and an incredibly rushed and unsatisfactory "climax" (if you can even call it that) fit into three paragraphs, this was an incredibly disappointing read.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When seventeen-year-old Thisbe’s car is found abandoned on the bridge, a witness reports seeing her standing near the guardrail. Everyone assumes that she committed suicide. There is no doubt that after Clay, a popular boy at her school, seduced and then dismissed her, Thisbe changed from a serious student to a lost party girl. But was that enough to prompt her to jump? What if she didn’t? Only her younger sister is adamant that Thisbe, who was afraid of heights and water, must still be alive somewhere. This well-written haunted novel, told from rotating points of view of key characters, layers in complicated teen and family relationships with each page turn.

[Sheila · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could of had so much more done with it but it just failed for me.
Starts off good then so many characters.
Then we are thrown to Thisbe jumped because of current events and back and forth dialogue that I was wondering what does this have to do with her missing?
The story just felt all over and or not organized and the details seemed lacking.
We really didn't know that much and I thought it was supposed to be about a incident on a bridge and that mystery or the story was whomp whomp whomp.
Then the end was so rushed like smack dab and sticker what the hell?
This book just wasn't good to me so sad.

[Mrs. Schonour · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't terrible, but it could have been a lot shorter. I was a little confused at first by all of the characters because each chapter is narrated by a different character. There are so many that it got hard to follow, especially listening to the audiobook. I'm not sure they were all useful and some seemed like filler characters who had no real role. There were points in the book that I wanted things to move along much faster, but it's an interesting plot and I kept reading to see how it would end.