I hated this. It made me genuinely angry, to a point where I'm finding it difficult to write this review. Nothing happens, the mysterious murder is nothing, the writing is atrocious, and the biggest victim of the book is never acknowledged.

While this book and concept had a lot of promise, the execution killed its momentum before it really got a chance.

I really enjoyed this book at the start. The writing — taking place in 1960s California — felt atmospheric and retro in a way I was really into. And the plot is fascinating, because this is an angle that's pretty unique. Around the halfway mark, it was clear that this was leaning more literary mystery than mystery thriller (the latter being the intended genre), and things got so much worse from there. It was slow, unclear, repetitive, and ultimately unimaginative.

I still enjoyed this series. I liked the writing, the sense of humor and the goofy solutions these characters find for their problems, and the setting. When this duology was good, it was really good. It's a tragedy to me that it floundered so much at the end when it has a lot of potential. If the author ever decides to revisit this universe, I'll be there eagerly waiting.

When I finished this book, despite having just finished a story attempting to be very moving and emotional, I just felt confused. While this is a creative concept, the execution falls flat and fails to deliver on all of its promises.

Best House on the Block by T.R. Ragan Amazon First Reads December 2024 Pages: 269 Genre: mystery thriller Rating: 2.5 Stars Kindle...