I flipped back and forth on my rating for this one…….. BUT. I’m going 5 stars. 

And here is why.

This is a fast paced book. Fast paced in the sense I felt rushed to finish. I felt, subconsciously, that if I didn’t finish this book the characters would pass me by, the book would disintegrate in my hands. (ha) I believe I was egged on the way the book was structured. Which I liked, but didn’t like at the same time. 

The book has many POVs and news articles scattered in between. I felt the news articles were slightly unnecessary, although I can see why the author went that way. When the twists started happening I felt betrayed that some of the characters were lying to the reader, but after going back to rereading some chapters I realized it was just clever writing. You can mislead the reader, but you can’t outright lie to us. Hats off to you, Hawkins.

Once I talked the little Karen inside me down and realized Hawkins was not lying to me, I started really enjoying the characters and their story lines. Like these just aren’t ‘characters’ they are chhhhaarraccttterrrsss.
     The twist at the end was slightly expected, but loved it none-the-less. Speaking of twists, the amount of twists in this book is staggering, but I’d also say well-balanced. 
      Overall – I’m sticking with my 5 stars. This is a fast paced, twisty book and I enjoyed every page.

​Note: The Heiress doesn’t come out until 2024. It’s not even on goodreads yet (gasp) so I can’t see where my rating falls among other readers.