... isn’t chilling. No, it’s a sparking fuse leading to an explosion of feminist rage. This is a thriller that will prove disturbingly cathartic for female readers; too many moments will ring a familiar note for far too many. Even if you’ve never tweeted #MeToo, you know someone who has ... And Fargo never tempers that rage or darkness. This is a novel that could only be written by a woman, steeped in all of the outrage, disgust, and repressed screams of the wronged. There’s plenty here to horrify—triggers abound—but the ultimate theme is of women reclaiming their power. Former victims reassert their agency and own their narratives, giving a defiant, bloody middle finger to the status quo and calling out the hypocrisies and double standards that consistently favor men over women ... Fargo’s prose is propulsive, her short chapters urging us into a breakneck pace. They Never Learn isn’t so much a book as it is an experience, darkly hypnotic and intensely compulsive. This is a psychological thriller of the highest order, a story that seeps into your thoughts like blood through floorboards. If you read this at night, be prepared to sleep uneasily—or not at all.
The cast of characters in They Never Learn, including her multiple lovers, keeps the focus from being solely on Scarlett, though none piques readers' interest as much. Still, college life, with its petty feuds, jockeying for power and indiscrete relationships, offers a great backdrop --- and plotline --- for the story ... What makes this novel oddly compelling is that, despite Scarlett’s psychopathic tendencies, she is also a feminist vigilante, ridding the world of predatory men. And though readers know she’s a killer from the very start of the book, they don't have any idea if or how she will avoid capture until the very end --- by which time many may just be rooting for her ... This entertaining, funny and sexy thriller is too casual about its murders for readers to be shocked by the number of bodies that pile up. But that doesn’t take away from the curiously moral message at its heart.
... will satisfy her fans and delight revenge aficionados everywhere ... Intense is the key word here, and the author does an astonishingly good job in getting inside the heads of Scarlett and Carly as they take turns narrating. A Shakespeare class on Titus Andronicus is cleverly inserted into the story: 'Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.'
... searing ... Never mind the contrived setup and several characters lacking depth. Fargo shocks and entertains while delivering a scathing take-down of campus rape culture. Fans of Chelsea Cain will appreciate this fiercely feminist twist on serial killer fiction.
In this novel, everything is black or white: Male behavior is always predatory while female response is always justified. While author Fargo may have intended her vigilante to be the embodiment of independent, enlightened womanhood, a hero for the #MeToo era, it’s clear that Scarlett is actually a sociopath. Those who deem themselves an arm of justice often have to live in the gray area, but there's little evidence that Scarlett feels guilt or inner conflict, as the most compelling vigilante heroes in literature usually do. Instead, the argument that murder is always justified, and even admirable, might make for a good thriller, but it rejects the opportunity to explore accountability and inspire true cultural change ... Disarms its own argument for woman power by simply equating revenge to justice.
