I was recommended this book by my dad, and I have a sneaking suspicion that he picked it up because it has a similar mood to the book that I'm writing. Gotta love supportive dads!

It started off well -- I was interested in the characters and the mysterious event that was alluded to in the beginning. However, I quickly got annoyed whenever this illusive event was brought up. I'm not a fan of authors continuously bringing up the fact that an event occurred but taking too long to dive into what actually happened. I feel like it toys with the audience, which some readers may like, but it's a tactic that I, personally, don't enjoy. However, once the plot did unfold, I thought it was interesting enough with some twists. There were a few very well written moments that left me scared, surprised, or invested.

I was not a fan of the writing style for a couple of reasons aside from the aforementioned illusive-event tactic. First, I didn't feel that the dialogue was realistic, mainly, because there were several times when characters unnaturally revealed things about themselves. Then, there were these descriptions that made me feel like an outsider, because I didn't understand the reference (in a "had to be there" way). Here is an example: "... the one I've kept through countless cinder-block down rooms, sweaty, crusty-carpeted... and the smell, always, of industrial glue..." Am I the only one who doesn't understand why dorm rooms would have smelled of industrial glue? Some other versions of such descriptions have references to stores and brands that I had never heard of. I, personally, like for descriptions to be more inclusive. There was also an entire near-end section that was very hard for me to follow, although, I understand that this may have been intentional (I won't go into further detail so as to not give away spoilers, but it is just after the climax).

All in all, I thought this book was OK. I'm happy that I finished reading it, because there were some very good moments (i.e. when she's in her apartment and hears the doorbell ring -- it gave me chills!), and the plot was interesting. However, I won't rate it higher as I was not a fan of many aspects of the writing style.

Overall rating: 3/5