Always hard being the first non-five-star-review, but for me this book was good. Just good.

Starting out with the positive, the book has a lot of potential to be fast paced and keep readers coming back for more. It felt spooky at times and I found myself questioning if TreeTop was real or fake. The duel POV, combined with timelines from past and present slowly coming together, kept the pace moving and reader at the edge of their seat. It was an overall good mystery/thriller.

The ‘needs improvement’ comes from the overwhelming amount of unnecessary information. One example is, the famous lava lamp. I’m not sure where that plays in to any part of the story other than it made a MC excited to arrive at Soap Lake. It (like a handful of other moments) were talked about way too much without adding anything of substance to the story.

The dialogue would become awkward at times. Didn’t feel natural. Plot has some loose ends, confusing moments and needs tidying up. As I’m reviewing this so far in advance, I am assuming the author and editor will work through any potholes before publishing date.

Finally, now this is my personal opinion, I didn’t like the name TreeTop as the villain. It is an odd enough name to be scary, sure, but it didn’t make sense for what it was prowling around doing. Again, purely my opinion.

The author’s note was a wonderful cherry on top and something as a reader I always appreciate additional insight from the writer. The fact that Soap Lake actually exists and how the author took inspiration from the actual location to create this thriller is super intriguing.

Overall, a pretty good book and I’d be excited to see what else the author has up his sleeve.

Amazon Link – (none yet, will update review when book is posted on Amazon)

_{***Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, NetGalley and of course, Matthew J. Sullivan, for a  copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Publishing on April 15, 2025.}