Title: Girls of Brackenhill

Author: Kate Moretti

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer 2020

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 316

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR; COYER

When Hannah Maloney’s aunt dies in a car accident, she returns to her family’s castle in the Catskills and the epicenter of a childhood trauma: her sister’s unsolved disappearance. It’s been seventeen years, and though desperate to start a new life with her fiancé, Hannah is compelled to question the events of her last summer at Brackenhill.

When a human bone is found near the estate, Hannah is convinced it belongs to her long-lost sister. She launches her own investigation into that magical summer that ended in a nightmare. As strange happenings plague the castle, Hannah uncovers disturbing details about the past and startling realizations about her own repressed childhood memories.

Fueled by guilt over her sister’s vanishing, Hannah becomes obsessed with discovering what happened all those years ago, but by the time Hannah realizes some mysteries are best left buried, it’s too late to stop digging. Overwhelmed by what she has exposed, Hannah isn’t sure her new life can survive her old ghosts.

Ultimately, the twist at the end really annoyed me. In general, I steer away from mystery/thrillers as I often guess the twist or it’s so off the wall that it’s just not believable. For whatever reason, this one was on my recommended list (maybe from the podcast I like?) and I picked up for spooky season. We get some spookiness right towards the beginning, but this book quickly veers into very humdrum murder territory. I thought Hannah was an interesting main character, but by the end, I was not rooting for her at all. What is is with all these thrillers where the FMC is with someone boring, but instead of just breaking up with them goes out and cheats on them or does something truly horrible? Very much dislike that trope. Anyhoo, the house was not given enough atmospheric tension for my liking and I came away from the book pretty disappointed.

Next up on the TBR pile: