Well, this was equally as charming as it was underwhelming.
The writing style is definitely not for me. It felt tedious and repetitive, but not in a way that benefited the grief-stricken ghost-story aspect. It isn’t very dynamic and struggles to move events forward in time and space without confusion. Everything is written in the same manner—be it a sudden bout of spectral possession, a drunken street race, or a physical altercation—with crammed, chunky paragraphs that quickly become tiring to parse.
It does deliver on the general premise: the depiction of Andrew’s grief is perfectly raw and ugly, persistent until the very end and beyond. There’s a moment somewhere in the middle of the book where it really shines: a brief scene of mutual understanding between the main characters. That part truly clicked for me and served as a strong starting point for the more plot-driven half of the story.
The plot itself is not revolutionary. It’s a ghost story, a murder mystery, and vaguely academia-ish, and it doesn’t try to excel at any of those. The ghost is nothing new to the main characters, especially Andrew, who treats it more as an inconvenience most of the time rather than the genuine danger it is. The murder mystery stops being a mystery the second Andrew begins asking questions, and the academic aspect is incredibly simplistic. It all comes together somehow, largely by virtue of the main character being like that.
Andrew. I loved Andrew. He’s grief-stricken, repressed, mean, pathetic, reckless, and just an awful person. He’s a train wreck waiting to happen and he knows it. He’s a headache to everyone around him and barely improves at all. Honestly, I found his inaction charming: the way his denial of his feelings loops back around from devastating to hilarious. The murder and hauntings pale in comparison to the true horror of coming to terms with his sexuality. The romance that follows is nothing special, though it has its moments. The emotion just wasn’t there for me, especially considering Andrew’s constant struggle to actually admit to his needs.
The street racing was excessive. And yet I loved it.
The way this book treats women is something I’m willing to chalk up to Andrew being a terrible person, but it still left me feeling quite icky.
Overall, I think I enjoyed the potential this book had far more than the actual reading experience.