The author skillfully explores Sophie’s descent into insanity as her frustration with men—their unwelcome touches, snidely sexual comments, entitled movements—grows into rage then into an overwhelming violent hatred. Initial snippets of humor add levity as the story shifts increasingly into hard-boiled mode.
[The book] teases an intriguing premise that never fully actualizes, wherein the detective on the killer’s trail understands and even sympathizes with the killer ... Sophie’s lacerating insights about patriarchy are woven into tangled screeds whose ultimate point is that 'all men are the same,' a position that goes relatively unchallenged. The deliriously vengeful narration compels the reader to continue but is bloated with so much grotesquely beautiful imagery and metaphor that the language often impedes narrative momentum.
