I almost DNFed this book, but then there was a hook that got me. I'm glad I finished! There were parts of this that really creeped me out, but also parts that made me laugh. Mary sometimes felt relatable and her inner-monolgue was sometimes funny, and other times super depressing and hard to read. 
But please, don't make the same mistake as me. Do not read the afterword.
And DEFINITELY check content warnings!

i dont think ive ever read a book where i have so VISCERALLY hated an entire cast of characters this much ohhhhhh my GOD. genuinely the only likeable characters are nancy and eleanor,  and eleanor turns out horrible in the end (not unexpected at all, just sad) and nancy ends up dying and being the scapegoat for everything, even though she is the only genuiely Good Person (see what i did there, haha ← chanelled the author of the book for that, do u see how annoying it is) in the WHOLE cast of characters. like...im sorry, but what the fuck? like i am genuinely asking: what the fuck. this book just REEKS of being written by someone who has no idea what on earth theyre writing about. and beyind that, the story is so wholly unsurprising, unshocking, un-fucking anything enjoyable. its a spectacle. it really is. its so truly incredible how badly everything came together.

none of the twists feel earned since they were all so easily guessable (like noooo way, mary is the serial killer reincarnated??? oh say it isnt so...surely nobody guessed that at all) and because of that, fell entirely flat. like never once was i caught off guard by a piece of info or shocked or felt as if anything we learned put anything into place snce everything felt obvious from the beginning. like we KNOW there's something wrong with mary from the beginning. we know she killed her neighbours dog. we know that. its obvious. like...i dont even know what else to say about that. it was all just SO badly implemented.

also like it truly is a little mind-blowing how this book still managed to drive home the old 'the serial killer is just a crazy psycho on the loose' despite the fact that i dont think that was meant to be the case...? thats an entirely horrible trope in and of itself and the fact that this book has it in it, just a somewhat misdrect from the entirely obvious plot point, is BAFFLING to me. like it adds nothing the story. nothing. and like..are we supposed to care about mary? are we supposed to sympathize with her? feel pity for her? i hate her. i wish she died out in that fucking desert. i wish the furies would have clawed her eyes out and skinned her the way the members of the flock do to their sacrifices. thats what she deserves. she is a horrible woman, through and through, with no redeeming qualities. i dont believe for even a SECOND that she was ever acting not of her own volition and that its all blamed on 'being the reincarnation of damon cross', aside from the few times he Actually took her over. but before that? before she knew? no; that was all mary.

the only few good parts about this is, at least, that the book is at least self-aware. i appreciated that there was a little bit of satire against true crime culture and it did seem to have (some) insight into what women g through during their lives and how they change during menopause, but those parts were few and far between.

the book also just isnt scary; except, maybe, scary how bad it is.

and to answer the question in the authors afterword which is, directly; 'Was this a story I should have pursued? Or should I have let it scratch in vain inside the haunted trunk of ideas that sits inside every writer's brain?' yes; you absolutely should have locked it away and never looked at this idea again, for fucks sake.

I did enjoy this book, but it's a stew of various elements I'm not sure all come together in the end. I don't regret my time with it, but it goes off in a direction I wasn't expecting (both in a good and bad way) and I'm not sure how likely I am to recommend it to others or reread it. I would hold it up as a shockingly good example of feminist horror written by a man though, and I will definitely be reading Nat Cassidy's next book, Nestlings, when it comes out.

I absolutely loved this book. If you read it you HAVE to read the author’s notes (one at the beginning and one at the end) as they are a huge part of the reason I loved this. I won’t give too much away, but it definitely went a different direction than I predicted and I will keep parts of Thai book with me forever.

This was just okay for me. It was way too long and unfocused in places but it had a few good scares and some of the stuff with the ghosts was great. I get what the author was trying to say with the ending but I'm not 100% sure it worked.

Wow I was definitely creeped out. The writing gives you the creeps forsure and the story was unique and was invested in what would happen. There were funny moments and some extremely disturbing ones that will live in my brain rent free. That being said there are some things that prevent me from giving it a higher rating. First I think it was a little long winded the pace is kinda irratic it goes slow and then fast and than medium and then fast. The next things are spoilers 

first the harvest scene I feel like the cactus being inserted into the victims vagina was not needed to show the fanaticism of this cult. I feel like it was too much. I felt it was more for shock value and unnecessary violence towards women when there was already enough. Next the fact that the only person that's not white becomes the framed person for the crime. I understand the convience for it because it was her Easter event but why is literally no one else's race mentioned but hers?

Now on the topic of a Cis man writing about Menopausal women I think he did a pretty decent job but I am nowhere near Menopause so I may not be the audience to comment. I live in Arizona and found it fun to be reading about something like this happening as I have scene small towns here that can provide a good setting for this. Lastly I was raised in Montana and when he says as dark as a Montana Midnight I felt that. Lol
All in all it was a wild time and I think alot of people can enjoy this but please read the authors note and do research on the trigger warnings for this book has many.