Upon beginning this book, I was immediately aware of the conversational tone of the novel. The chapters are told somewhat through alternating viewpoints, though primarily through Claire. As you read, it is as if you are listening to her speak to you, or as if you are privy to her innermost thoughts, which is a pleasant change from the writing of many novels. That being said, her innermost thoughts tend to be quite scattered and unpredictable, evidenced from the beginning of the novel, as she dress shops for a charity event and her thoughts drift from numerous topics and she stops to reflect on how her “thoughts had wandered off again.” Her thoughts continue to be scattered throughout, again with her seeming to pause and realize this as she speaks with Mom on the phone that her “mind was distracted now, focusing on Mom”. As the reader, I found myself having to reread portions to ensure I hadn’t missed a part, as Claire’s scattered thoughts leave you feeling confused as to the events taking place. This novel, though short, did take a while before it got going and you got to the crime/mystery of the book. The beginning felt very scattered to me through Claire’s thoughts and actions, but upon meeting the other characters throughout the story, more pieces fell into place and it made me wonder if the scattered thoughts were purposefully written by the author so the reader could get an insight into Claire’s mental well-being.

I felt the dialogue shift as Jessica was introduced, and again as Mousy was introduced. I was surprised that Mousy, a 10 year old girl, had such an extensive vocabulary, especially when compared to the adults in the story. The way young Mousy describes her feelings and thoughts as she eventually loses both parents, “It appears each hardship made the next one harder to bear”, sounds as if it would come from an individual at least twice her age, though you quickly realize that Mousy had had a sad world of living in her short years.

Once you have the opportunity to meet the other characters, the story does begin to pick up pace. It is about that time that the murders begin. Once the pace begins to pick up, it transforms into a book that you aren’t ready to put down and want to reach the ending of, not only to answer the question of, “Who is murdering these women?”, but also so that you can get a sense of closure for the characters. Yet, I felt the ending could have been more detailed. When you finally get to the murders and the detectives are investigating, the novel resorts back to Claire and her jumbled thoughts, and then, back to the crime to be solved. It felt like the actual crime solving was an afterthought to the story. The ending felt rushed and left you feeling incomplete, though it was able to answer all of your questions about the characters and, ultimately, the crime that was committed.

I felt that the description of this book was misleading because although there were three murders that had to be solved, I felt the real questions fell within the relationship between Claire and Stephen, and with them, the secondary characters of Jessica, Cole, and Mousy. These interactions between characters is really what made the novel a good read and any questions you wondered about while reading were answered by the end.

All in all, I would have originally said I’d give this novel a 2.5/5 when I started it, due to the jumbled thoughts of Claire and feeling like I’d missed an important selection. However, upon finishing, I feel this is a 4 out of 5 once you reach the end, thanks to the character development of all characters. I really enjoyed the various perspectives, which really allowed you to get a sense of each character, each of which was drastically different from the other.