All the main characters walked in with preexisting relationships and fully formed personalities, and Mallory was the only dynamic character in the book. It made getting attached to the characters very difficult.

There were a couple minor plots that could have been left out of the book, and a few of the major plots were explained either all at once or didn’t make a whole lot of sense with the story. Mallory seemed to know who the murderer was on campus from day one, which doesn’t really make for a fun thriller, not to mention that she had very little proof that the murderers had done it.

Speaking of murder...the author makes it sound like Mallory had a very clear choice between running away from her boyfriend and just straight-up stabbing him. Throughout the flashbacks and Mallory’s own thoughts, readers are given what feels like a very conscious choice that Mallory made to stab her own boyfriend instead of escaping. Nothing is mentioned to make readers think that Mallory would have had an issue getting to the front door and leaving. Therefore, throughout the book, she is painted as someone who consciously decided to stab her boyfriend because...what? He was sort of a jerk? It never says that he abused her physically or sexually, so murdering him seems a bit harsh.

Also, her flashbacks confused me. The blurb made it sound like she had blocked out the whole night her boyfriend died, but when she started having flashbacks, I assumed that she actually remembered the whole night but was trying not to think about it (understandably). And then even later in the book readers discover that Mallory remembered certain things from the night and forgot other huge events that had taken place. I don’t think that’s a thing, psychologically. You either remember it all in vivid detail or your memory is bad/nonexistent. Not the sort of pick-and-choose amnesia she had.

The world building was also very sudden and sort of stereotypical, with the whole “boarding school with secretive rich kids” dynamic. I did like the woods, however - although I didn’t like the use of the urban legend surrounding them.

Overall, it was a fast and easy read, so not a lot was wasted, but there are much better thrillers out there, and this book had enough wrong with it to be irritating.