I could not relate to the main character, there was too much “woe is me” and complaining

I think I got about ten pages in before I stopped

Mia, a librarian in Nashville, is used to being ignored and overlooked. That is until what starts as a simple online dating profile turns into a series of unusual and dangerous events that spiral out of Mia’s control.

Though I didn’t know where the story was going at first - and it took a while to fully take off - the final product still satisfies. This novel is more of a slow-unraveling mystery than thriller (especially with how rushed the ending feels), but a good mystery indeed. It has smooth, clean writing with short chapters that give it a quick pace. And Jones provides plenty of misdirection; although I did eventually have a hunch about where the story would end, there are so many red herrings that make it a fun guessing game along the way.

As a protagonist, Mia feels deeply real. I like messy protagonists, so Mia’s questionable decisions are, to me, a sign of good characterization and story development. Mia’s friends are nicely created, too, and every single character - though at times one dimensional - played some type of necessary role.

(Having read this pre-publication, there were some formatting issues, namely that the text messages and other similar passages seemed to get lost in the regular narrative).

I recommend this book to fans of “You” or stalker mysteries/thrillers in general, especially one that entertains and keeps you guessing.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was quite the page turner! I stayed up way too late reading this! I thought I knew who was Mia’s stalker but I was so wrong! Plenty of twists made this thriller engaging!

Mia Anderson is an invisible woman. An unremarkable thirty-two-year-old Tennessee librarian, she’s accustomed to disappearing in a crowd, unseen and unheard. Then she receives an anonymous note: You look beautiful today.
It doesn’t stop there. The attentive stranger—a secret admirer named Adam—has plans for Mia. With each new text comes a suggestion for her hair, clothes, or attitude, and for the first time in memory, Mia feels noticed. Slowly, she develops a confidence in herself she’s never had. But Adam has a surprise coming…and Mia finally sees him for who he is and what he’s prepared to do for her. Even kill.
Fearing she could be implicated in the murder, Mia’s forced to turn to the stranger in the shadows watching her every move. Adam’s game of cat and mouse begins with Mia as the prey. In order to survive, she must also become the predator. At the end of chapter one she realized she can’t run away from the killer because she is the killer!

I must admit that my emotional attachment to the characters can influence my judgment here. I fell in love with the main character Mia. I loved her interactions with her mom and dad and her two best friends Jess and Jake and therefor the twist at the end of the book did not make any sense to me as it was too far fetched. I understand that an ambiguous ending must be the most creative choice — but that doesn't make it any less disappointing when you've stayed up all night trying to read to the end.
And of course, sometimes a disappointing ending is just plain bad. Sometimes you get the feeling that it was late, the author was tired, and they just wanted to wrap it up and send it off to their editor so that they could go to bed. In the end ….This book could have been so much more….

Very well written mystery! I was very surprised with the ending. Worth the read! The characters and clues made it easy to follow along!