This is a psychological thriller, in the sense that it fits the general definition and, despite its flaws, it does maintain tension throughout. I’ll return to thase below.
As regards the plot, the premise is fairly novel. Cary, a forty-something woman with a serious sugar addiction, is confused about her sexuality but seems to be mainly homosexual. She has been made redundant from her job with a True Crime based broadcasting network, but is still occasional employed by a different, but similar, network. Her only real friend appears to be her sister’s dog, Obi. From early childhood, she has had a premonition that she will be murdered, which appears to be the main reason for her employment specialism, and the book is peppered with allusions to famous, mostly mass or serial, killings. One night, having driven out in search of a sweetness fix, she sees a car deliberately mow down two young fawns. The man, otherwise we have no information about the driver, spotted her and decided to stalk her. She does not report this even when, a few days later, two young girls are killed in a similar way and she suspects the same driver was involved. Two psychological misfits for the price of one! Other events cause her to confide in a small group of acquaintances and they start to investigate this possible serial killer, who kills animals and then uses the same methods to kill people.
I have concerns about the writing, which is a bit repetitive, but my main problem is with the logic of the plot. Cary and her ‘team’ just don’t proceed in any sensible way and certainly not with the sort of urgency that one might expect. In fact they spend so much time meeting in restaurants (almost all described as ‘favorite’), avoiding the issues rather than progressing them, that this could be read as a good food guide for Connecticut (they are all fictitious but names are similar to real places). This lack of logical progression would nearly work if it was just Cary but the others behave rationally in every other way except when they interact with the crimes. I didn’t like the ending, although it is consistent with the characters so I can see that others would be happy with it.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.