This supernatural horror follows Ashley, the face of her family's psychic business. As a child, she saw figures she called the Heedful Ones but after one disastrous night, they disappeared. Now, years later, her family wants to branch out from contacting dead relatives to consulting with the police. No better case to start with than the child murders dubbed the Gingerbread House Murders. For some reason, the Heedful Ones decide to come back into Ashley's life and show her where the most recent missing child's body is. Now, the press is excited, the police are suspicious, and Ashley start to realize maybe her visions have come back now for a reason and she's more connected to these murders than she ever thought.
I really love when I read a book's description and think "that sounds really interesting" and then the actual book is even better than I was expecting. This was one of those reads. The premise was intriguing and Williams builds on it expertly to draw me in. The main character had such a strong voice from the start and we can really feel her internal struggle between her 'job' and her identity/morals. But we don't sit in the status quo for long, instead getting thrust into the Gingerbread House Murders by literal supernatural forces. This is one of those books where the premise pays off in dividends.
i loved the dual timeline aspect and how it was used to give the reader answers to something the characters were all mentioning (or trying hard to not mention). The reader can piece together some clues from these half-mentions but it would have been a little out of place to suddenly have one character info-dump the whole story. Plus, being able to see the events as they were happening in real time also gave insight to Ashley's character. There is also a true crime podcast element that is looking into the current murders that gives some more background info on the area and the history. Both of these elements I felt worked with the narrative and didn't feel out of place or like that author was taking the easy way out of plot/character development.
The characters in this were fantastically complex and intriguing. Williams does a great job at quickly introducing them to the reader in a way where we really get to the essence of that character. Sure, we'll get more details about them later, but I loved that each character comes onto the page fully developed so I had an instant understanding of them. The main plot takes place over only a few weeks so there isn't a whole lot of time for 0-100 character development which is why I loved the choice to have Ashley already thinking/doubting her place in the world. she's ready for a change and this plot will take her there.
The horror aspect of this is mostly supernatural with some body horror pertaining to the child murders. We also get touches of folk horror tied to the murders. I did find myself wanting more from the murder investigation aspect, it felt a little under-utilized and used more as a convenient way for information to get to Ashley. I loved the supernatural elements in this, especially the description in both timelines. I think it really highlighted the differences between children and adults when it comes to the unknown. Ashley's own growth when it came to accepting what she was seeing vs her profession and all the skepticism that comes with it. I didn't find this book scary, but it was unnerving at times. I think this could have been a very different, more gruesome book if it wanted to be but I liked the more understated horror elements.
Where this book lost me was the ending reveal and the aftermath. I found in the first 75% of the book, the breadcrumbs of clues were laid out expertly. I loved the feeling I'd get when I just knew a certain character was 'off' and I'd wonder to myself how they'l fit into the resolution. Then, on the pages lading up to the actual reveal, those breadcrumbs felt more like an entire loaf of bread the author was using to hit me over the head. All subtly was lost and then when the reveal came, it was more like "well duh, you basically told us 5 pages ago". I also thought the aftermath of the reveal wrapped up way too quickly and there were some key conversations I would have loved to see and these were completely skipped over. I read an ARC, so maybe some of this changed for the final version.
Overall, this was an entertaining read with a great setup and great pacing. However, I felt lit got a little heavy handed at the ending reveal which lessened the surprise. Also, I wanted more of a resolution to some of the interpersonal drama/issues presented throughout the book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC. Publication date was April 9, 2024.
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