Hmmm this one was interesting. A bit slow in the beginning but then about 1/2 way when the letters(emails?) with Leo started to get weird and the whole fbi thing happened it got more interesting.

I am not sure I liked the ending, it felt a bit rushed. And I’m not sure what to make of Leo showing up at the end. And the whole race/pandemic thing seemed like the author was like look I added it in are y’all happy?

Anyway 3.5

-In between chapters of a manuscript are letters from fan and beta reader Leo to the author, Hannah. But his letters become more and more creepy, until it’s clear this person is stalking the author and is probably a murderer. The manuscript follows main character novelist Freddie, who is in the Boston Public Library when a scream tears through the building. Freddie befriends those around her, and over the next few weeks Cain, Marigold, and Whit are each experiencing frightening events, and are pointing fingers suspiciously at each other…

[a lot of evidence seems to mount toward Cain, who actually was in prison years before for murder. Freddie is falling for Cain and doesn’t think he’s the culprit now, but proving that will be tough. Turns out to be Whit, after many red herrings and not enough clues for the reader. Also was a Leo character in manuscript who is Freddie’s neighbor who is interested in her…??]

-I was pretty disappointed in this book. The letters are boring and annoying, then creepy and patronizing, and always took me out of the manuscript story and angered me. The mystery in the manuscript felt flat: I didn’t care about the scream nor about the characters, who were bff’s or in love way too fast. There were too few characters to carry the tension of constantly pointing fingers. The reveal was unsatisfying and felt like we hadn’t been given enough clues to figure it out, plus there were big plot holes. I didn’t understand the manuscript Leo character, nor the ending of the book/manuscript. Topics were brought up but not explored: police, race, politics, pandemic…