I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In the spirit of Halloween and all things spooky, I have been reading books that are in the horror/supernatural genre. This novel fits perfectly into the category of supernatural, and this is what drew me to it in the first place. I was eager to have this review done for today in light of it being Halloween and also being close to the release date (which is November 3rd) so here it is!
Loxely Fiddleback is a simple-minded girl with a big problem: she can see the dead and they can see her. Ghosts have plagued her for a long time now, and life has been hard for Loxely. But it becomes infinitely harder when the newest ghost she has to encounter is that of her only friend, who was alive just a few hours before. Although Loxely isn’t equipped to handle murders, she swears to take revenge on her friend’s killer. In doing so, she uncovers a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top level of society. And as her enemies become aware of her existence, she is now being hunted.
I was so excited for this novel, with its unique premise. But I definitely did not enjoy this novel. It was scattered, and seemed to have no real plot whatsoever. Loxely’s character is annoying in that her disability is never mentioned and she never seems to be able to do anything; her personality and behaviour is more of an impedance than anything. While the author introduces an interesting concept with the idea of ghost possession, it isn’t executed properly and fails to excite the reader. My general thought while reading this novel was just that it didn’t make sense in the slightest. It was as if the author was trying to do so many different things in terms of themes and plots and subplots but just ended up failing in all of them. This is probably one of the more disappointing novels I have read this year and unfortunately, I’m going to have to pass on this one.
Happy reading ~