Rating: 3/5

(or 3.5 depending on my mood as there were aspects that I really liked AND disliked about this novel.)

What I enjoyed:

• The unique premise and protagonist, I love an anti-hero as being in their point of view is so fascinating and different!! Gretchen was not too crazy considering she can function within society but enough nuances to make me interested in her.
• The dual point of view and timeline, I have both positives and negatives in the way it was done. I love it when stories start off with a bang and then slowly go back into the past to unravel the crime. I also enjoyed how the current timeline would then be followed by the corresponding past event so it was like revealing the other puzzle piece.
• The interactions between Viola and Gretchen. Psychopath vs sociopath, I love it! I just wish there was more!

What I didn’t enjoy: 

• The non chronological order of Reed’s timeline. It was different but I didn’t like it because it felt messy, there was too much jumping to the past and future. Rather than show past events leading up to the death…It went the opposite way and in a random order towards a different case which was confusing and disappointing because I was more interested in Violet. 
• The loose ends of the past. Considering how much focus and build up of mystery there was around the past, I was waiting for a jaw dropping revelation that never came and the details were glossed over.
• The fact that Gretchen calls other people empaths. I didn’t mind it the first few times but it got irritating. Sometimes it felt like the use of the word sociopath and empaths was the biggest reminder that Gretchen was in fact a sociopath. 

Themes and the missed potential!