**Review will be published March 11th**

CONVOLUTED.

Yes. I enjoyed this. But also yes, some of this went over my head.

This is totally CREEEEEPY. Granted, I’m a wimp when it comes to thriller/horror books, but still. I preferred to read this in the daylight hours and I accept that. The mist and twisted souls wandering around had me second guessing every character in the book (with good reason).

I liked the formatting of this one with flashbacks (and forwards) to “videos” of what was happening at different times on the island. Also, who would even want to stay on this island!?!?

What kind of lost me, was the last quarter or so. I didn’t quite get what all of the echoes were doing, who they were following (and why), and a few other questions. A lot more world-building and deeper explanations would have helped me make sense of everything with Sophia and the echoes.

This is a highly atmospheric read and I think that’s why I thought it was intensely chilling. It kept me flipping pages fast and furious to see who survived and made it out alive. I enjoyed the characters and while I didn’t think the sub-plot of romance was all that necessary, I didn’t mind it. I liked that this group worked together to suss out the entities wreaking havoc on Bitter Rock.

Overall audience notes:

Young adult thriller/horror
Language: some strong
Romance: kisses
Violence: murder, attacks by supernatural entities

It’s hard for me to give exact feedback on this book because I honestly don’t know how I feel. Part of me loved it and part of me is so confused by it. This is a story you have to really focus on to follow. You have to really be good at picturing things to understand exactly what’s going on. I think this story would do so well as a movie. I really liked the characters and the format of the story. I think I’m confused, but in a good way. Also, I’m hoping there’s more to this story in the future.

I adored Kate Alice Marshall's Rules for Vanishing when I read it as an ARC so getting the advance reader copy for this book really excited me. I dove right in and was pleasantly surprised to realize it exists in the same world as Rules for Vanishing (not a spoiler-if you read the synopsis well ...unlike me...you can riddle that out, too).

This story is spooky-like downright gave me nightmares and was difficult to read at night but I loved it. It wasn't my "perfect" Kate Alice Marshall because some of the themes weren't as "me" as Rules for Vanishing but oh my gosh did I love it, still. Her writing is amazing, the way she crafts a story and writes her characters is fantastic. There are a lot of people mentioned, so much like Rules for Vanishing, there is a lot to keep straight. I don't mind this, at all, as a full cast makes the world feel "real" for me.

This one does come with some creepy body gore and a lot of trauma and history with suicidal thoughts, mental illness, depression, and emotional repression. It's dark-her books tend to be, but nothing I couldn't handle. There is some mutations of people and animals and death of people and animals in the novel including a violent assualt on a child that is shown in flashbacks. Know yourself and if you can handle it...but it's fantastic.