Howdy booklovers! How are we all? I’m here with a review of Bad Things Happen Here by Rebecca Barrow. I’d like to thank Hot Key Books for the surprise bookmail. It’s such a stunning proof😍
Blurb
With compelling characters, broken friendships and complicated romances, BAD THINGS HAPPEN HERE is a gripping murder mystery full of dark truths, lethal betrayals, and poisonous secrets.
Paradise can be deadly …
Luca Laine Thomas lives in Parris, a beautiful island plagued by the unsolved deaths of young women – most significantly, Luca’s best friend. All Luca wants is to heal from the traumatic loss and leave her feelings of guilt and helplessness behind.
Then Luca comes home to find police cars in her driveway. Her sister, Whitney, is dead.
Luca and Naomi, the new girl next door, decide to take the investigation into their own hands, and along the way their connection deepens. Soon, their casual touches and innocent flirtations become something way more real. But finding out what happened on the night of Whitney’s disappearance reveals lie upon lie.
Nothing is as it seems. Will Luca’s search finally reveal the truth about her sister’s murder?
Perfect for fans of WE WERE LIARS, ONE OF US IS LYING, ACE OF SPADES, and ASKING FOR IT.
Rating
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review
I’ve sat on my review of this one for a while because I have mixed feelings.
It was a good read, the description of mental health conditions were accurate to my experience (however this doesn’t excuse her being so mean), there was great diversity and there was a lot of unpredictability to the novel but the ending disappointed me. I was left with a bit of “is that it?” Vibe and felt it lacked something.
Luca made me angry. She didn’t treat people nicely, she was rude and abrupt and i really struggled with how to feel about her because i could definitely understand some aspects but not others. I reallly didn’t like how she treated Naomi at times either.
I did enjoy the bond of the sisters though that was cute.
There’s also the mystery of what happened to Polly it keeps getting hinted at that maybe theres a serial killer and/or she was murdered so i at least thought we’d get some kind of answer for that but it was left as a loose hanging thread of frustration.
So whilst I enjoyed the majority of the book, it was a great whodunnit I wasn't a fan of the ending and some particular points within the story.
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