TW/CW: disappearance of a loved one, infidelity, body horror/gore, animal death
I loved the horror elements in this. I had heard people talk about this as a horror, but from the description and the cover, I wasn't sure what the horror elements were going in and I was pleasantly surprised by what we got. This ended up being a mix of supernatural and creature horror that I think worked really well together. We do get confirmation on the creature part, but we never really get a concrete answers to the supernatural elements but I didn't particularly mind that part as it ended up being less important by the end. The creature is never named, although I think it is pretty obvious what Harrison was going for. The creature/body horror elements really pick up in the third act and I was completely onboard for that ride. The supernatural elements start pretty early on but are more subtle so they get a little lost, for me, once the action picks up. I do wish the supernatural elements were a bit more developed and used more in the story.
The setting was phenomenal. It takes a while to get to the hotel, but once we're there, it is really the star of the show. It is a newer hotel with all the rooms having different themes as part of the attraction gimmick. The hallways and common areas are equally eclectic which gave me the feeling of this toeing the line between being hip/modern and being a creepy carnival fun-house. Everything is cute and special in the daylight, but in the dark then things seem to take on a much more sinister tone. Creepy, possibly haunted hotel + tense friend situation = prime set up for some spooky stuff. I was a little confused at the layout of the hotel because there are mentions of multiple hallways or wings but since I listened to the audio book, I'm not sure if there was a map in the book or not. I could still follow the main story but couldn't exactly picture where these different rooms and characters were in relation to each other. There is a frantic chase scene at the end where characters are running all over the place and, honestly, not knowing the exact layout made the scene feel even more chaotic which I think worked out well. I really enjoyed how the hotel became this sort of oppressive force in the book where the characters diverted their frustrations to when, in reality, they were frustrated with other aspects of their lives.
The dialogue and interactions of these characters were the weakest part of the story, for me. A lot of reviews I've seen cited the juvenile and seemingly unnecessary dialogue as the reason they DNF'd or rated the book low. I listened to the audiobook (on 2x speed like I do with all audiobooks) so I think these sections didn't feel as long for me. However, if I was physically reading this and having to turn page after page of this, I can see how that would put some readers off. I did notice, even in the audio form, how shallow and juvenile the dialogue was. These are supposedly best friends from college who are all now 30ish (I can't remember if they give an exact age) so I would expect their conversations and interactions to have some more depth and substance. There were many topics that were 'off limits' which the characters were sort of dancing around. They didn't want to bring up their concerns for Julie's condition and instead wanted to focus on just relaxing and celebrating that she was back. Now, it is 100% authentic that not every conversation, even with close friends, is super deep and intense. I think this sort of shifting friend group dynamic is very realistic in that transition out of college where you all go your separate ways. However, just because the dynamic is realistic doesn't mean I necessarily want to read it for 300+ pages. We get a few passive aggressive remarks and allusions to past actions but, in general, there is just a lot of "OMG, I'm so glad we could get the group back together / you're all my best friends / I love you all / what should we do tomorrow / etc". I did like how the shallowness of their conversations (and, as an extension, their whole relationship) got addressed in the ending so that was a moment of character growth for them.
The pacing was a bit different but I ended up enjoying it. This book is 300 pages but only has 9 chapters (33 pages per chapter) and that really makes this feel like a longer read that it was. We also get a lot of set up at the beginning before we see Julie's return but, looking back, I think this was necessary to set up the characters and dynamics well enough before hand. They only spend a few days at the hotel so we needed those two years of set up to be really solid. I was also surprised at how much time we spent focused on Elise's situation early on in the story. Based on the description, I thought the story would pretty much kick off with Julie's return and then we'd get maybe flashbacks or information through dialogue on the history of what the characters were doing or feeling through the last few years. Harrison's choices to set up the pacing of the book like this really helped settle the reader in Elise's mind and her circumstances before we really introduced the bulk of the friendship dynamics. I always prefer these sort of friend-group stories to be in multi-POV but I think if we had to only pick one, Elise was the best choice to follow through the story. The pacing really picks up around the halfway mark, despite the chapters still being long. The second half of the story is where we start getting some pay off for the long set up we had initially which is why, looking back, the overall pacing worked.
Overall, this was a really great read for me. I completely understand why some readers ended up DNF-ing this due to the slower start and frustrating dialogue between the characters. I would recommend the audiobook which, for me at least, helped lessen the impact of these issues.
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