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3-19-25: My 19th finished book of 2025! Slow burn to a big twist ending. Nicky Hunter has a correspondence with a famous detective story author, Sebastian Trapp. Doubly famous due to the 20 year old disappearance of his wife and young son. When he finds himself on his death bed he reaches out to Nicky to come spend some time with him and help him get his story down on paper. She gets way more than she bargained for. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣1️⃣9️⃣

I just can‘t do it. I‘m 120 pages in and this book is just not doing it for me. How this is the same writer as “The Woman in The Window”? I feel like I‘m just sitting here reading the most boring conversation between two people with random people peppered in and I could give not a single crap who they are. I‘m out #hailtothebail

This gave me the exact same feeling as after “the woman in the window” I was drawn into the introduction, obsessed with the storyline… I got bored in the middle and wondered if there was a word count needed. Just to absolute redeem it with a wild ending. Worth the read. But the middle takes longer than expected

I know the reviews for this one aren‘t great, but I liked it. It is a slow burn but it kept my interest and kept me guessing trying to figure out the mystery. Some good twists at the end too!

#HauntedShelf #DeadSerious
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“Today mama and me saw a lady who is a spycologist (sic) who asked why I wanted to die. I said I don‘t but it hurts to live.”

“To say goodbye is to die a little.”

A slow burn that held my attention the entire time, even if the main twist was glaringly obvious! The mystery and the house were both well planned and I enjoyed the dialogue and quotes, which seemed to annoy a lot of other readers based on reviews.

The Goodreads reviews have not been kind to this book but I have to say I'm really enjoying it so far!

⭐️⭐️⭐️A lot going on here!

I was so excited to read this because I loved Finn‘s first book so much. And this one is great too, just a little different than The Woman In The Window. It reads almost like Knives Out for about the first half-kooky, comedic mystery-then is a slow burn thru the middle, with a fast-paced thriller-y end. The twists were great, and I love Finn‘s nods to classic mysteries and noir. I never would have predicted the ending. A fun read. A pick from me!

I really, really enjoyed The Woman in the Window and have been waiting for the author‘s sophomore book to come out! I personally think this was a great 2nd novel, although I didn‘t like it quite as much as the 1st. It‘s definitely a sloooowwwww burn but I loved the nods to old-fashioned mysteries and the ending was definitely a surprise. It took me 3 weeks to finish it but I did enjoy the ride. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Ooof not great

There are a lot of mixed reviews out there about this one and the major criticism is it is very slow, which is true. It does tend to drag a bit and sometimes figuring out who is talking slowed it down even more. In spite of that I enjoyed the story and I was surprised by the reveal at the end. The numerous references to classic mysteries was a fun addition and I appreciated the author's note T the end referencing the source of many quotes. 3.75/5

I was beyond excited to read this book having absolutely loved TWITW. But I struggled a lot particularly with the use of the present tense. I think it‘s supposed to create drama and urgency but I personally find it intense. I had the “twist” from early on and so the “clues” were so obvious and clunky I was screaming. Too many voices hopping from one to the other. None of the subtlety or heart felt trauma of TWITW. Needless to say I‘m devastated.

Oh, what a mess. For the first 60% or so, this book just farts around. Sure, it‘s “laying the stage,” but a couple pages would have done the trick and this is more than half the book. And while I liked the idea of some of the reveal at the end, it wasn‘t done well and I was just so over it by that point. Major sophomore slump.

Currently reading… was disappointed in A.J. Finn for a while… BUT I loved The Woman in the Window so much, that I have to give this a try. 🥰📚💕

This was definitely NOT The woman in the window. 😕 I liked the old-time mystery kind of feel, but this one just did not keep me engaged as much as I had hoped.

This is an excellent book! It‘s even better than Woman in the Window. It‘s well written, well narrated with a corker of a twist at the end. Highly recommend this book!

“‘I‘ll be dead in three months. Come tell my story.‘ So writes Sebastian Trapp, reclusive mystery novelist, to his longtime correspondent Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction. With mere months to live, Trapp invites Nicky to his spectacular San Francisco mansion to help draft his life story.”

After slogging through this very slow burn…that never ignited…I finally finished! Only to be disappointed in the ending. I was so sad…I really liked Woman in the Window…I had high hopes for this one. ⭐️

I just did not connect to these characters and had little interest in the resolution for 3/4 of this book. I thought this was going to be my first pan of 2024, but I liked the last quarter of this story, so yeah, a meh. 👇

Also, I MAY have wandered around the bookstore before the event started and did not leave empty-handed! 🤭📚📚📚