This felt like a love letter to fans of Mindhunter, True Detective, and cult stories. In it, a cult leader on death row attempts to receive a stay of execution by dangling valuable information and revelations in front of an unlikely interviewer. As our brave MC puts the pieces together and untangles the web of the past, he brings many secrets to light.

It's a classic premise for good reason, it aligns with the public's love of true crime and sinks it's hooks in with the promise of complex paths and twists galore - all of which this story delivers. The cadence of events is quick and there's a lot of moving parts; there's the MC's story, a number of side characters, timeline and POV flipping, and a ticking clock element. The characters fit familiar archetypes and it's rewarding to "figure them out". And there's this really fantastic component of the book publications and how they're used as foreshadowing (and they're written in reverse, how cool!)

Most of themes worked well for me and there was a good sense of tension, but at certain points it felt far too busy. Once the reveals started coming, they were fast and furious which was certainly entertaining but at times it felt the entire focus was on the next best twist vs sticking with something for a bit to create a more immersive atmosphere and environment. As an example, it was tricky for me to get a lock on everyone's approximate age (despite trying to correlate relationships and timelines) and my gauge kept resetting with certain pieces of new info. I will say, everything was addressed and I think that's a real testament to the skill of this author. It's certainly an elaborate thought-out story, but it felt very jumpy at times. I think the writing style fit the nature of this book but it personally wasn't for me, it flipped between mostly short/curt with moments of grandiosity which kinda added to the "too much going on" feel. Again I think it was effective, just my preferred style.

Overall it was exciting read and is well-suited for the true crime audience. It's complex and has a lot of twists (which I'd argue was it's downfall but I respect the ambition). Despite some pacing snafus, it's a relatively quick read which is aided by some pretty enthralling section. Definitely recommend if this genre is up your alley. Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Crooked Lane Books for the privilege of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

⭐ 3.75 ⭐

i learned about the existence of the wicker movie when i was blessed with the undoubtedly fun silly little (also very nice looking) trailer release, so maybe... 48 hours this has all been on my radar? do i love a good creature romance? why yes very much thank you. do i adore olivia colman and the entire skarsgard family? but of course. needless to say i know where i'll be 10/23. to my surprise, my ever accurate algorithm dropped a post from a creator in my lap where they (upon seeing the trailer) embarked on a journey to find and read the source material. naturally, i had to do the same. so here i am.

this bite-sized story read like a fable with a sharp sense of humor. it has that "let me teach you a lesson about humanity" in a whimsical way. it doesn't take itself too seriously and it's honestly just fun. everyone gets what they're entitled to with a sprinkle of "good for her". yes it is very short so sure there's not a ton of room to get wild and crazy with the full spectrum of literary topics (aka smut to character development, what else is there right?), but it does a fine job with no nonsense and it lets you infer a lot which i thought was clever and effective. i mean it's 14 pages, i read it in the time it took to make coffee; it's definitely worth the time you give it.