This was a melodramatic and paranoia-laced mystery that started strong but was all downhill from there and I didn’t like the gender clichés and convoluted twists without a satisfying resolution. I’d say it’s a don’t overanalyze book but the fun is in analyzing who said what and trying to figure things out so it was disappointing for me.

 

Energy: Contradictory. Caustic. Patronizing.

 

🐺 Growls: The setup for this was interesting, but once the main conflict was revealed the execution felt outdated with a mishmash of reasons in because-the-author-said-so style. I really disliked the ending—if it was meant as satire or tongue-in-cheek, I missed that--it seemed like we were supposed to cheer some of these people on?

I usually hate endings where the bad guys win, but I guess there wasn’t much choice here since everyone was terrible 😅

. The sudden moral judgements and gender wars/having-kids thing was off-putting (to me).

 

🐕 Howls: The audiobook had occasional inconsistencies in quality (a line would suddenly be different volume or the voice actor sounded different, to the point I thought it was an intentional thing). The ending overlooked earlier plot points in a way that didn’t add up.

 

🐩 Tail Wags: How it made me question who’s telling the truth (if anyone). The present tense writing style heightened the tension and paranoia. The audiobook (mostly) and non-intrusive atmospheric sounds.

 

Scene: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Small Scottish Isle of Amberley.

Perspectives (2): A best-selling author struggling to write after the sudden disappearance of their spouse. The spouse leading up to their disappearance.

Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s). 🌧️ Rainy off-season.

🔥 Fuel: What happened to the missing wife? Is she still alive? Whose version of the relationship is truth? Could they both be true? What’s with the eerie island vibes?

📖 Cred: Unbelievable

 

Seagulls. Fish and chips. Labrador retriever. Stormy skies. Box myrtle tea. Land Rover. Crashing waves.

 

Content Heads-Up: Child death. Childless (wanting a baby). Domestic violence. Drugging, torture. Financial insecurity. Grief. Loss of spouse. Misandry. Misogyny. Murder. Paranoia, insomnia. Pedophilia (implied; brief memory). Sexual content (consenting; recall). Toxic relationship.

 

Rep: British. Cis. Hetero.

 

📚 Format: Library Audio

 

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