I believe that all people are born evil, but they know both good and evil. It’s a biblical perspective. However, even people that are not Christians can be be “good people” in our standards. Most books I read do not have any Christians, but I usually can find some characters that are good that I can route for. One thing I really did not love about this book was there was no good guy to route for, everyone that could have been good was not, and there was no redemption for anyone that originally was bad. The people working at the Grove were mostly selfish, Yuri deals drugs, Max harasses Alicia, The aunt is terrible, Paul has a gambling problem, The gallery manager was obsessive, Gabriel had an affair with Kathy, Alicia shot Gabriel, and Theo nearly murdered Gabriel and Alicia. It was depressing that everyone was bad. There was really no silver lining on any of the characters.

The reveal was great, although I was suspicious of Gabriel cheating the whole time, and once Theo started following the strange man around I started to suspect that Theo was the guy. I still wasn’t positive, and it still surprised me that he ended up being the man that had followed Alicia around. Looking back it made more sense because the chapters that involved Kathy always seemed out of place compared to the ones where Theo was at the Grove. It makes more sense now that they took place years apart. It was also suspicious because Kathy was never mentioned or appearing in the chapters with Alicia and the Grove.

Sure, there were some questions after I read it that I didn’t feel were fully answered. The most confusing part was Theo. I don’t really understand why he wanted to go back to Alicia after everything. I also am still wondering what the deal was between Christian and Theo. Is it not ironic that Christian was friends with the man Theo’s wife was having an affair with? And Theo and Christian knew each other? That is a huge coincidence. I also wish I knew more about Alicia’s crazy mother who ran into a wall? I was expecting that to be developed more, but it wasn’t. And then you have the plot with Max and Paul never resolved. Why did Paul need money? It seemed like a waste of time to go through all these unresolved puzzles around Alicia to have them amount to nothing.

I didn’t understand how Alicia was able to hide the diary the first time around when Gabriel was murdered. I don’t know how she had enough time to write in it once she was dosed with morphine. I don’t know how there wasn’t more evidence about Theo being in the house, did he not tough the rifle? The chair? The wires that bound her? I know it’s for the plot, and I can’t read into it too much because I know there are bound to be plot holes for the book to work.

It was an intriguing, quick read. I know that Thrillers don’t have much substance outside of the shocks, and in that, the book served its purpose.