Author: therealmystique

Genre: Mystery/thriller

What I liked about this book:

This is a very, very frank discussion of someone who is not well mentally. And by not well mentally, I mean that Ozzie clearly suffers from severe mental illness. This is showcased by how the chapters are out of order, scattered in their structure, and in some places frustratingly vague. Reading it feels like falling down a staircase: it's jarring and painful, and difficult to tell which way is up.

I couldn't rip my eyes away from it, I really wanted to know what was wrong with this character and why he was reacting this way to things. I wanted to know what happened to his parents. I wanted to know which parts were real and which were simply a figment of Ozzie's imagination. Is James real? Is the beast real? Can he really feel the souls of objects, or is this all just a vivid hallucination?

All of it is very, very well done.

What I did NOT like about this book:

...And then we get to part two.

Here we transition from what is honestly a wonderful and interesting portrayal of mental illness to a traditional murder mystery, and it broke my immersion and also came completely out of left field. I don't see why Dodge and Newt are in this story, and the murder mystery aspect is like 100 times less interesting than watching Ozzy crawl around inside his own head.

I would cut that plotline completely and allow Ozzy's inner struggle to take the center stage like it so clearly wants to. That part really got me. The second half I could have done without reading after we got done with Dr. Nelson and the sandbox.

Overall:

Don't jerk me around like this.

Rating:

The first half gets a 9/10 and would have a 10/10 if it had been proofread. The second half is a 6/10 at best.