This book took a little while to get into- the second half is much more interesting than the first. If you’re looking for a thriller about dancers, then this book is not for you. However, if you’re interested in learning more about the inner workings of ballet companies and the sexism, exploitation of young girls, and darkness that is affiliated with ballet as an institution, then this book is absolutely for you. One criticism I have for listening to this book is that the timeline jumps around a lot, and it is difficult to keep up. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the second half and would recommend sticking through the first half- IMO, it was worth it.

As someone with two lifelong best friends, I was excited to read about a triumvirate of strong and unique women. However… The main character is just whiny, selfish, self-indulgent, and unrepentant. And she got worse, and worse as the story went on, culminating in a final, horrific, unpunished crime.

The other women were: 1. Weak and stereotypical and 2. Unfinished, undeveloped, and stereotypical (oh! Wait! She’s a lesbian! That makes the story inclusive, right? ... not!)

The men are sexual creeps, the women are innocent victims. Done?

The story is billed first as a “Mystery & Thriller.” I’m wondering if that was a typo. I had to really think about it, but I guess the “mystery” was something about what two of the characters did to a third. It wasn’t mysterious, it wasn’t interesting, it wasn’t a plot-twist, it was barely mentioned throughout the story, and it was revealed - almost in passing - towards the end. As for thriller... I have no idea. Does pushing a guy out a window count? It wasn’t thrilling.

So.Many.Unpunished.Serious.Crimes.
Am I really expected to have sympathy for a saboteur and murderer because she didn’t like the way her victim treated her friend? This justified a murder?

The biggest problem I had with this story, and it repeated, were the countless sexual predators and perpetrators or actual sex crimes basically unpunished and discussed in such a non-alarming way that it was disturbing. I get it ... ballet (like gymnastics and figure skating) are sports that are primarily young girls and traditionally attract a certain “bad character type.” So, if shining a light on the rampant excused behavior of these rapists and child molesters is the purpose of the novel... make it purposeful. Show a consequence. Explore the victims from a new perspective. Don’t just make it acceptable behavior because of the environment. Ok, so one guy lost his job... seriously, that’s it?

I read to the end, because I kept waiting, and hoping, for some sort of justice. Had I known it wasn’t coming, I would have dropped it when the main character moved to Russia.

As for the narrator, her diction was so sloppy and lazy that there were too many words I found indecipherable. She slurred the endings of words so much that I missed what she said and had to rewind … after the fifth or sixth time, I gave up. The story wasn’t good enough to care and I figured that if the publisher didn’t care if I could understand the words, I didn’t either.