Skip to main content

Member Reviews

Merry, Sam, and baby Conor have relocated to a rustic cottage in Sweden, leaving behind their life in New York where Sam was a professor. Now Merry spends her days baking, gardening, and mothering little Conor while Sam is attempting to launch a new career as a filmmaker. They have made substantial renovations to the cottage that Sam inherited and appear to be living an idyllic life, even though their neighbors warn them that the long, cold Swedish winters are challenging.

Merry's best friend, Frank, announces that she is finally coming for a visit! Merry is at once excited to see her and nervous, determined to ensure that everything is perfect when Frank arrives. Frank immediately becomes an integral part of the family -- Conor adores her and she begins transforming from the high-powered career woman with no domestic skills to a woman who envies the seemingly tranquil life that her friend has established.

Merry is harboring dark thoughts and even darker actions that render some passages in You Were Meant for This difficult to read and disturbing. Merry is not as enamored with motherhood as she would have others believe and is upset when Conor seems to be happier with Frank than with her. She increasingly defers his care to Frank, claiming she is unwell and taking to her bed for days. Frank watches Merry and discovers her unspeakable secret.

But Sam and Frank also have secrets and when tragedy strikes, they begin coming to light. The sinister truth stands in glaring contrast to the beautiful setting against which it plays out.

Michelle Sacks manages to make three thoroughly unlikable characters utterly fascinating, revealing their motivations, machinations, and manipulations at expertly-timed intervals. Sacks explores the twisted, competitive obsession that binds Merry and Frank together. And she peels away the facade bit by bit, compelling the action forward right up to the jaw-dropping, deeply disturbing conclusion, at which point the meaning behind the book's title becomes abundantly clear.

Was this review helpful?

1.5 stars - rounded up for quick chapters

Easily the worst book I’ve read in 2018 - so far.

I’m definitely in the minority amongst most of my GR friends, but I couldn’t stand this book. I did not like the writing style. It read like someone talking in monotone. The 1/2 star given was for the multiple POV’s (which I am a big fan of) and the quick chapters (also a big fan). Other than that, I couldn’t wait to finish this book. I almost gave up about 3-4 times, but stuck it out. Why you ask? I have no freaking clue.

The characters in this book are some of the absolute worst, most sick and twisted individuals I’ve ever read. I love psychological thrillers and have read some shady and deceitful plots and characters in my day, but this was just too much. There is NOT ONE redeeming quality in any of these freaks. The only character I liked was Baby Conor and he didn’t even speak.

The last line in the book disgusted me to the fullest extent possible. At this point, I was wishing harm on Sam and Merry and couldn’t be happier that it as over.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown and Company and Michelle Sacks for an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

Was this review helpful?

This book is one crazy roller coaster ride! One minute you are screaming to get off, and the next minute you don't want it to end! It is no exaggeration when I tell you that this book will stick with you long after its over! Michelle's writing is flawless!!

Was this review helpful?

lMichelle Sacks delivers a chilling, disturbing thriller with her debut novel, You Were Made for This. It will make you question everything you have ever believed about happiness, friendship and family.

Before I begin my review, I want to emphasize the “disturbing” part of my description. This story includes psychological and physical spousal abuse, child abuse, and child sexual abuse performed by some nasty, vicious characters. I found the story rather disturbing and want to warn those for whom violence and abuse are hot button issues to avoid this novel. On the other hand, those who enjoy twisty psychological thrillers starring deeply flawed characters will want to dive right in.

Merry and Sam have it all. Literally the first words you read in the novel are about the perfection of their lives. Merry tells us:

“If you saw us, you’d probably hate us. We look like the cast of an insurance commercial: shiny, happy us. The perfect little family, living the perfect little life. Wasn’t that another perfect day? Is what we always sat at the end of days like these. “

Actually, no it wasn’t. And that difference -between appearance and reality – is what our tale is all about.

Sam has worked hard to build the perfect life -and the perfect wife. He handpicked Merry because he knew, from the moment they met, she would let him mold her into his ideal woman. He loves doing that. He tells us:

“If I think about the part that’s really addictive, the part that’s the sweetest, it’s the way they look when you’ve hurt them. The way they crack and break. Even the strongest woman is just a little girl in disguise, desperate for you to notice something about her. So hungry for it, she’ll do anything you ask. Low things.”

When Sam screws up big time and loses his job in America, he seizes the opportunity to take Merry to Sweden, to a little house he’s inherited there. A small, isolated cabin with only one close neighbor, set in the idyllic countryside.

Merry’s favorite game is pretend. Right now, she is pretending to be the perfect Swedish wife: she cooks meals from scratch, gardens, cleans the house with homemade soaps and makes her own baby food. This is what Sam wants. What he demands. The moment Sam leaves the house she becomes all the things she can’t be around him – a carb addict, TV watcher, bad mother. She doesn’t love baby Conner. Oh, she knows she should, but she doesn’t. She’s exhausted from playing the part Sam demands of her and relishes the moments she can take that out on her son.

Frank (Frances) is Merry’s best frenemy. They’ve played at being ‘besties’ since childhood, but that game is one in which a thousand cuts and bruises are delivered. They each envy what the other has and that envy is expressed by working hard at stealing from each other and bringing each other down. Their closeted enmity/co-dependence reaches a whole new level when Frank sees Merry’s ‘happy’ home and decides she wants it. When she comes for a ‘visit’, their worlds collide and implode.

Dark, addictive and seductive, this story is a walk through some of your worst nightmares. It’s time spent inhabiting a place where you can’t trust anyone. The author excels at taking it to the next level. You will think these people can’t go any further in their sadistic little games but then they do, and you are horrified anew. The pacing here, where each new kernel of truth is delivered just a tiny bit at a time, is amazing. Everything you thought you knew – prepare to be surprised, because you didn’t know it.

One thing that really stands out is how the author could build to a big truth – why Sam hated his mother, for example, – and then deliver it in an almost offhand manner. A paragraph would explain something you’ve spent half the book wondering about and that paragraph would be like a bomb in your head. Explosive, devastating, and changing completely the order of things. If you’re looking for a twisting, turning, thrill-a-minute ride, you will find it within the pages of this novel.

That said, this book was like peeling back the layers on a rotten onion. You think those first few layers are nasty but the closer to the core you get, the more repulsed you are. None of these characters are likable. None are sympathetic. Even as you learn what formed them – the painful childhoods, the traumas in adulthood – you do not gain sympathy for them. You will wish you had never met them. They will suck some of the joy from your world, even if just temporarily.

If the goal of a psychological suspense novel is shock and awe, Ms. Sacks certainly achieves her objective with You Were Made for This. However, the fact that the characters are so deeply embedded in their depravity gives the novel an otherworldly feel that almost deprives it of some of its power. Less would have been more in this case. A bit of good mixed in with the bad would have lent some much-needed light to the darkness. That said, this is a powerful début for those who have the courage to take it on.

Was this review helpful?

4 “life is not always a bowl of cherries” stars to You Were Made for This! 🍒🍒🍒🍒

This was a book I had to read based on reviews from my friends, including Jewels, Kendall, and Michelle. And of course they were right- this one was good!

Merry, Sam, and baby Conor are living in the idyllic countryside of Sweden after a leap of faith move from NYC. This is a shiny, new life for them, and it’s almost too good to be true. Merry is fulfilled taking care of the household, while Sam has started filmmaking.

Frank is Merry’s childhood best friend; they are as close as sisters. She visits Merry in Sweden and instantly adds to the family becoming quite domestic at once. And it is Frank who recognizes that things are not as perfect as they appear. Frank also has her own share of deceit.

There was a lot to love about You Were Made for This! The chapters were quick, and I heard from Mary, Frank, and Sam. Multiple points of view hold my interest, especially in suspenseful novels. None of the characters are likable once the truth comes to light, and it.does.not.matter. Because once the layers started peeling away, I was on board entirely with this shocking, sick, perfectly-paced, original, extra dark thriller. There was no turning away even as my stomach flip-flopped. It was hard to believe this was a debut!

Thank you to Michelle Sacks, Little, Brown and Company, and Netgalley for the copy.

Was this review helpful?

4.5 Dark and Disturbing Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟.5

from the blurb... a dark look at marriage, motherhood,And friendship... don’t always agree with the blurb, but this one is spot on! Michelle Sacks did a fabulous job of painting a disturbing picture.... this book will make you look twice at the closest people in your life...

Sam and Mary have moved to Sweden from New York, and appear to be loving a quieter lifestyle... Mary is the picture of domesticity... baking, cooking, gardening, cleaning, and taking care of her adorable infant son Connor... Sam is taking on A new career and seems more than pleased to have Mary at home playing the loving wife...

This book was told from three different points of view... Mary, Sam, and Mary’s longtime friend Frank who comes for a visit... wow! Looking back my first impressions of these characters sure did change by the end... don’t want to say too much, but none of these characters were terribly likeable.... and a lot of their actions were down right despicable..... One minute I’d be feeling sympathy for a character and then they’d do something and all sympathy went out the window.... and the friendship between Mary and Frank? With friends like that who needs enemies? This book left me feeling as though I needed to take a shower (and not a cold shower)...

This book made you realize things are never quite as they seem.... you only know somebody as well as they allow you to know them.... and everybody has some kind of secret.... A very well done dark and disturbing thriller filled with plenty of characters to dislike!*Warning* some of the content in this book might be a little hard for a more sensitive reader....

Absolutely recommend to fans of a strong psychological/domestic thriller with a darker side....

*** Many thanks to Little Brown for a copy of my book ***

Was this review helpful?

Sam and Merry left the busy life of New York City and were living the dream raising their infant son, Conner, in Sweden. At least that’s what they were telling themselves and anyone else who would listen. But the long winters and slower-paced atmosphere, raising their own vegetables and making their own bread, jams, and baby foods might not be all it’s cracked up to be. When Merry’s oldest and best friend Frank sends word she’ll be coming for a visit and to meet Conner, Sam and Merry double-down on their version of the utopia they have been portraying. But Merry and Frank know each other too well, and the secrets—and rivalries—can’t stay hidden for long.

The story is told from the first person alternating between Sam, Merry, and Frank. All three are deeply developed, establishing themselves and providing insight into the current events of the novel by sharing their pasts. The relationship between Merry and Frank—how they’ve influenced each other since early childhood and still do today—is central to the story, Sam, though wanting to be in control, is controlled by them both, and by the relationship with his mother, giving him a loathing for women that he just can’t seem to get over.

How far will this rivalry between Merry and Frank go? Adultery? Murder? And who will come out on top? You just can’t predict what a lifetime of love and hate can do among friends.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to Little Brown And Company for sending me a free copy of this book, in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I rate this book a 4 out of 5 Stars.

This book punched me right in the gut, several times. I cannot really say what got me so worked up, as it's not in the synopsis and I do not want to spoil it. 

I read this gem within 24 hours, once I started it was damn near impossible to put it down. This was such a creative read, The whole book, the one person I thought was a Monster ended up not being one, and The person I thought was good ended up being a terrible human being, and the person I disliked the entire book, I ended up softening to at the end. I am not sure that I've read a book lately that had this many plot twists, and gut punches.

These three adults had the worst experiences growing up, Frank's probably being the worst. I'm glad that the author didn't go into great detail, or else I am not sure I could have kept reading it. I see the trend in these books, bad childhoods = Bad adulthood, and that same thing could probably be said in real life. 

The only negative thing I can say about this book is, there are NO quotation Marks anywhere! It was a times very difficult  to discern conversations, from the story. I'm not sure why authors do this, or if it's only done that way in the ARC, but it really drives me crazy. I noticed it right away, and then got used to it, and then noticed it again, it drove me crazy and made it a wee bit harder to focus on the story. But eventually I got over it, and just enjoyed the story. Does anyone know why authors do that? Why leave out quotation marks during dialogue? But I think if that's the worst I can say about this book, than that's pretty darn good. I also am not 100% how I feel about the ending.

Was this review helpful?

At one point in reading this book, somewhere past 50%, I thought I was going to be able to squeak out a three star rating because it seemed like it was finally getting into some solid psychological musings, but then characters ended up having psychotic episodes, supposedly stemming from childhood "traumas", that were just too out of this world. The author should count herself very lucky if she thinks that the childhood events these characters experienced were "traumatic"; problematic, yes, but bad enough to induce self-consumed breaks with reality, no. There was very little show in this story, it was all tell. Yes, the book was a page turner for the first 2/3 or so, but only because of shock value, not good storytelling.

I still was considering giving it two stars, until near the end, because I realize there are readers who don't care if a book is written well, or even remotely believable; they just want to be shocked in an entertaining way. Now, don't get me wrong... I'm not dissing anyone for having that as their motivation for reading; I just feel authors should be able to do both: be entertaining and write something with good bones. Then came the conclusion. Ugh.

This is where the rickety two star rating fell apart and crashed into the ground. It actually made a crater in my opinion and if there were zero stars that would add into the ratings average I would have assigned it that number. The entire weird prologue/epilogue mash-up conclusion was ridiculous. It was purely awful. It made absolutely no sense. I think it was one of those situations where the author wrote themselves into a corner, which must have been difficult to do because it was not a complicated plot by any means, and they had to walk out over the wet words leaving a messed up unprofessional final finish.

Before I end this, I need to touch on the flotsam this book left in its wake. It basically said that any horrific behavior is excusable if you have had even the least little speed bump in your childhood, or something you think as "unfair" happen, even in adulthood. This outlook is made more offensive based on the fact that these horrors were being inflicted upon children. One thing I hope is not true in this story is an online support community of mothers who secretly hate their children and repeatedly put them at risk of grave injury so they might accidentally die. They justify each others' actions so they won't feel guilty and alone. This story thread was never tied up as a negative thing.

Was this review helpful?

I gave up at 17%. There was no one up to that point that had any redeeming qualities except the poor neglected baby.

I realize this is the "it" book that everyone is discussing and I may be in the minority, but this book wasn't for me at all.

Was this review helpful?

Michelle Sacks delivers a chilling, disturbing thriller with her debut novel, You Were Made for This. It will make you question everything you have ever believed about happiness, friendship and family.

Before I begin my review, I want to emphasize the “disturbing” part of my description. This story includes psychological and physical spousal abuse, child abuse, and child sexual abuse performed by some nasty, vicious characters. I found the story rather disturbing and want to warn those for whom violence and abuse are hot button issues to avoid this novel. On the other hand, those who enjoy twisty psychological thrillers starring deeply flawed characters will want to dive right in.

Merry and Sam have it all. Literally the first words you read in the novel are about the perfection of their lives. Merry tells us:

“If you saw us, you’d probably hate us. We look like the cast of an insurance commercial: shiny, happy us. The perfect little family, living the perfect little life. Wasn’t that another perfect day? Is what we always sat at the end of days like these. “

Actually, no it wasn’t. And that difference -between appearance and reality - is what our tale is all about.

Sam has worked hard to build the perfect life -and the perfect wife. He handpicked Merry because he knew, from the moment they met, she would let him mold her into his ideal woman. He loves doing that. He tells us:

“If I think about the part that’s really addictive, the part that’s the sweetest, it’s the way they look when you’ve hurt them. The way they crack and break. Even the strongest woman is just a little girl in disguise, desperate for you to notice something about her. So hungry for it, she’ll do anything you ask. Low things.”

When Sam screws up big time and loses his job in America, he seizes the opportunity to take Merry to Sweden, to a little house he’s inherited there. A small, isolated cabin with only one close neighbor, set in the idyllic countryside.

Merry’s favorite game is pretend. Right now, she is pretending to be the perfect Swedish wife: she cooks meals from scratch, gardens, cleans the house with homemade soaps and makes her own baby food. This is what Sam wants. What he demands. The moment Sam leaves the house she becomes all the things she can’t be around him – a carb addict, TV watcher, bad mother. She doesn’t love baby Conner. Oh, she knows she should, but she doesn’t. She’s exhausted from playing the part Sam demands of her and relishes the moments she can take that out on her son.

Frank (Frances) is Merry’s best frenemy. They’ve played at being ‘besties’ since childhood, but that game is one in which a thousand cuts and bruises are delivered. They each envy what the other has and that envy is expressed by working hard at stealing from each other and bringing each other down.  Their closeted enmity/co-dependence reaches a whole new level when Frank sees Merry’s ‘happy’ home and decides she wants it. When she comes for a ‘visit’, their worlds collide and implode.

Dark, addictive and seductive, this story is a walk through some of your worst nightmares. It’s time spent inhabiting a place where you can’t trust anyone. The author excels at taking it to the next level. You will think these people can’t go any further in their sadistic little games but then they do, and you are horrified anew. The pacing here, where each new kernel of truth is delivered just a tiny bit at a time, is amazing. Everything you thought you knew - prepare to be surprised, because you didn’t know it.

One thing that really stands out is how the author could build to a big truth – why Sam hated his mother, for example, - and then deliver it in an almost offhand manner. A paragraph would explain something you’ve spent half the book wondering about and that paragraph would be like a bomb in your head. Explosive, devastating, and changing completely the order of things. If you’re looking for a twisting, turning, thrill-a-minute ride, you will find it within the pages of this novel.

That said, this book was like peeling back the layers on a rotten onion. You think those first few layers are nasty but the closer to the core you get, the more repulsed you are. None of these characters are likable. None are sympathetic. Even as you learn what formed them – the painful childhoods, the traumas in adulthood – you do not gain sympathy for them. You will wish you had never met them. They will suck some of the joy from your world, even if just temporarily.

If the goal of a psychological suspense novel is shock and awe, Ms. Sacks certainly achieves her objective with You Were Made for This. However, the fact that the characters are so deeply embedded in their depravity gives the novel an otherworldly feel that almost deprives it of some of its power. Less would have been more in this case. A bit of good mixed in with the bad would have lent some much-needed light to the darkness. That said, this is a powerful début for those who have the courage to take it on.

Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo

Was this review helpful?

Oh my GAWD... what a crazy ride this was!! I LOVED IT!!!!

Michelle Sacks delivers a stunning debut filled with lies, sex, jealously, greed, and suspense that will leave you on the edge of your seat. BUCKLE UP.. this is a definitely a ride that you want to experience.

There were so many things that I loved about this book. Multiple POV's from our three main characters: Mary, Frank, and Sam.

Let's meet Sam and Mary. They appear to be a loving and happy couple with their new beautiful baby boy. Sam and Marry have recently moved to Sweden from New York City... definitely a different setting from New York. Sweden appears to fit perfectly for the couple... Mary is a picture perfect wifey with new baking skills that give Martha Stewart some competition ;).

But, of course not everything is as it seems in Mary and Sam's perfect world of marriage and motherhood. The seams start to unfold fast in this dark web of deceit... and it just continues to fall... fall... fall..
But OH Sacks you make it so beautiful to be part of this dark web of deceit... I can't get enough of this addicting book.

Be prepared..there are some scenes that may make you uncomfortable (don't want to get into too much detail for spoilers).

But, oh you ask who is Frank? Frank is Merry's lifetime friend since she was a little girl. Just as we think it can't get any darker with this tail... oh be prepared my friends when Frank comes into this picture perfect marriage. Frank visits Merry in Sweden for some quality "girlfriend time". No ONE knows Merry better then Frank.

Let me tell you something... you will not like any of these characters and this is a perfect storm that plays out beautifully! I could not get enough of this nasty little gem of a tail.

HUGE fan of this author! Pre-order this one!! I can't wait to see what she comes out with next! :)

4.5 strong stars for this brilliant debut!

Thank you so much to Little Brown and Company and Netgalley for an advanced arc in exchange for my honest review.
Published to GR: 5/28/18
Publication date: 6/19/18

Was this review helpful?

Even though the characters in this book are not likable, it is a compulsively readable story! The writing is taut, the pace fast and the plot gripping. Recommended!

Was this review helpful?

Dark, claustrophobic, and intimate, this book brings together unlikeable characters in a remote and idyllic location in the best tradition of many horror movies. The story is told from three different first-person points of view which only adds to the sense of being trapped in the minds of three people who have such deep psychological wounds that they are impossibly cruel to each other. It's a page turner dipped in dread.

Was this review helpful?

Told from alternating points of view, You Were Made for This by Michelle Sacks is a dismal sort of book, a lot of negativity, unhappy people and a disturbing sense of doom. Merry and her husband Sam have moved to Sweden from the U.S., after Sam had some sort of inappropriate relationship as a professor. What seems all light and lovely on the surface, soon reveals itself as something dark and sinister, as the true character of these people comes to light. Enter Frank, Merry's longtime friend, and things get even weirder. During her visit, relationships are further strained, and the plot gets even more muddied. With no real redeeming qualities to anyone who inhabits this book, well maybe the baby was nice, but beyond that, the rest of the book was so evil, so sad, it was hard to wrap one's head around. Overall, an intriguing premise that could have been executed more thoroughly.

Was this review helpful?

This is quite a horrifying story.

There were only two characters that I didn’t completely hate – one was a baby, the other a neighbor woman. Everyone else was simply loathsome.

The author is very skilled at parceling out little nuggets of horrifying truth, slowly but surely building characters and a plot that leave you feeling both horrified and somewhat unclean. And, oh, the ending… Let’s just say I would happily take a couple of characters and throttle them.

I’m not certain that this is a book you’ll enjoy. But it’s definitely one of those reads you in which you simply can’t look away from the page.

I need to go and read about innocent, nice people for a while. This was shattering.

Was this review helpful?

I wanted to love this book, but I honestly didn't finish it. I do not plan on reviewing it anywhere else at this time because of that. I want to stress that it's not the author's fault that I could not read this; I am at a very vulnerable time, suffering from my own post-partum depression, and I think the plot just got a little too dark for me. I will, in the future, read this book, and at that time provide a more objective review.

Was this review helpful?

Another heart-pounding psychological thriller told in multiple point-of-views (my favorite!). You Were Made for This starts out with a couple and their young baby who have recently moved to Sweden from Manhattan and mentions an old friend of the wife Merry's, a girl named Frank. We soon learn Frank will be coming to visit and the friendship might not be as rosy as it seems.

At the risk of spoiling the fun, I'm not going to offer more plot points, but I will say that there is a reason this is a psychological thriller and fans of that genre will definitely enjoy.

Another fun buddy read with my BFF Shannon (@givemeallthebooks).

Thank you to Little Brown for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Was this review helpful?

I started reading this book but only read about 3 chapters. Reading about Merry's difficulties as a mother and what seems like postpartum depression at the least was really hard for me due to my own experiences, and I just don't enjoy reading that type of story line. I am not rating the book anywhere else since I didn't finish it.

Was this review helpful?

Huge sigh. This book was a mess. At first I was momentarily intrigued because the book seemed to be setting up things with the husband in this story (Sam) to be sinister. All of his rules for mothers/wives seemed to be playing that way. But then you get further into the book, and when Merry's "best friend" Frank comes to visit, the book just goes freaking dark. I just needed something to break up this mess. There was nothing redeeming about a single character. You don't even get a semblance of characters getting their just desserts. Instead you know that it seems that the cycle will continue again in maybe 10 or 20 years. This book gets one star for taking place in Sweden. That's about it.

"You Were Made for This" is about a husband and wife (Sam and Merry) who move to Sweden to live in a house that is left to Sam. There are some allusions to something happening that caused the family to move. But you never get the full details. Just other characters blurting out things later on dozens of pages later.

Sam is happy in Sweden, but struggling to make ends meet. He used to be a professor at a university in New York. And now is trying to be a filmmaker.

Merry used to be a set decorator (that sounded cool and wish we had gotten more details about) but is now a full time mother to her son Conor. Merry is not feeling seen anymore as a stay at home mother. Instead she is trying to follow the rules for motherhood that Sam seems to think she needs to do (which includes making homemade baby food and scrubbing the whole house with organic ingredients). Merry I was initially sympathetic to, but Sacks blows that away pretty quickly when you find out about the darkness in Merry. Merry is dreading, but also wants her best friend Frances (known as Frank) to come visit.

Frank and Merry have a toxic friendship. There is no other word for it. I just could not with Frank once you saw everything she had done in the past, and what she currently did in this book. Her talking about being the only one to "see" Merry was just head shaking to me.

Merry wants to show off for Frank to show her "that she's won" and Frank is not worth as much since she's not married and has no children. That could have been an interesting dynamic with two women who chose two different paths. Heck even show the dark side of motherhood and talk about post par-tum depression. Instead we don't get that at all.

Sam is obviously awful, you don't really get why Merry wants to be with him. You do get why he wants to be with her though. He has someone to mold into whatever he wants. There are some hints there that something dark happened to Sam. Once again though, you don't know since the author doesn't like to spell things out. I for one got really tired of people talking past things.

The secondary characters that we get (there are barely any) don't figure into this book at all really. We have Merry and Sam's closest neighbors who are there merely to move the plot along.

I really didn't like the writing. The multiple POVs with Merry, Sam, and Frank didn't help. They all started to sound the same after a while (psychopaths with the need for instant gratification). And the book started to feel endless after a while along with being repetitive.

The setting of Sweden was the only reason why I gave this book a star. I was intrigued about the location, the mention of the lakes, the ability to be truly alone if you want to be in the place that Merry and Sam lived.

The ending was a mess. I think that Sacks should have changed the ending. It felt like such a waste to me to have to wade through this book for no reason in my opinion. I think she was going for a Gone Girl twist, but it didn't work. I just sighed really loudly at this point because you are given enough context clues that it seems the cycle would just continue for all parties.

Was this review helpful?