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Starts out firmly as grief horror with the mother’s recent loss keeping her from being present for her family. Her disconnect from the difficulties her older children are experiencing and her inability to help her husband deal with them accentuates the extent of her disconnection.
Trope of the husband’s unease with the child she discovered being set aside as he is desperate for anything to ease her pain.

Readers who expect a book like An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good should reset their expectations.

Embla is a complex imperfect character.

Small town issues that those who have read American or British mysteries set in similar sized towns will find issues.

Tension and fear builds and book and the violence proceeds.

Vibes: Band of survivors, wilderness horror, multiple narrators, switching between time periods, hidden menace

See also Midnight Crossroad by Charline Harris

Very fun read. Vibes of the southern book club’s guide to slaying vampires and small town urban fiction like the Agent of Hel series by Jacqueline Carey.

Book uses concept of functional religion to explain CrossFit, its founder, and meaning to members.
Academic but might appeal to someone who liked a book like Cultish and wanted to go deeper into functional religion.

The sense of terror is high in the first paragraph. It’s starts out with the emotions turned up high.

Trope of the evil minister, performing evil in the name of righteousness and former love who abandoned the slasher

Sense of vengeance for past wrongs as with other slashers. Different in that it is a female slasher which I love.

Someone else described this as a romp- it’s a romp, a bloody, terrifying yet hilarious in a bad way romp. Big 89’s slasher vibes.

Book starts in 5th gear. Shifting perspectives between Candy Cain and others.