Oh, my

I don't know about this one. On the one hand, the writing was solid and the narration was good. On the other hand... the book was definitely not as advertised. I was hoping for a good, gothic mystery, full of terror, suspense, evil spirits... what I got was what another reader described as "a feminist screed," but I would have to call misery p*rn. If you're into reading about abuse (child, domestic, emotional...), child neglect and marital rape, if you enjoy reading graphic accounts of rampant misogyny, and the innermost thoughts of a narcissistic sociopath's descent into madness (which is not nearly as exciting as one might hope- rather, tedious and grating), then this is the book for you!
Yeah, it was not a fun read. The first half was horrifying, alright, for the reasons listed above, but the last half was honestly kind of boring and a slog to get though. You know the basics of what happens at the end at the beginning, as it is the prologue. The mystery, such as it is, is the how and why, and the how and why offered just didn't grip me at all. You could just about figure it out early on, leaving it all feeling a bit low stakes.
The other thing is, the main characters are unlikable. The villain, of course, although he is almost cartoonishly awful, but the protagonist, too. Maude can be excused for being sort of horrible thoroughly messed up, her childhood was a disaster, but... it was still hard to feel for her or actually care about her wellbeing.
Yeah, I really didn't enjoy this one.

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