Gripping if flawed ... The distinctive setting and well-drawn characters, especially Ollie, compensate for a convoluted plot that offers no hints of the principal characters’ dramatic backstories until the big reveals at the end. Downes remains a writer to watch.
Downes is less interested in drawing the threads of her mystery together into a tightly logical web than in sowing the seeds of psychological terror, rooted in everyday traumas from sleeplessness to coping with teens, and branching out to create a nightmare world. A hair-raising mood piece you’ll be glad to awaken from.
