Engaging and immersive. A recommended purchase for collections where crime and thrillers are popular.

I feel like I'm going through a spell of reading books that i think I will love and then end up not really enjoying. This one had a lot of the elements I liked (true crime, weird crafts) but it didn't really draw me in. Everyone was so unpleasant which can be fine but then the story has to really compelling I didn't think it quite was. It had a lot of potential but really didn't take off.

After reading and enjoying Other People’s Clothes, I was happy to see the author has a new book coming out. Thank you to @callahead_ @netgalley @overlookpress for an advance reader copy.

Since I loved the author’s humor in her previous book, I’m glad to say I found the dark humor here highly entertaining as well. Poor Esther is a train wreck and being stuck in her head was interesting to say the least.

"Scrap" is a mystery novel with a twist and I love that the lead is a lesbian. Readers who appreciate LGBTQIA crime fiction may enjoy this, as well as mystery lovers who love a good story. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Being a fan of Calla Henkel’s previous novel, I jumped at the chance of getting to read her ARC. And as much as I adored Other People’s Clothes, Scrap was an even stronger book in my opinion. Henkel is great at writing obsession, and being in her main character’s mind was exhilarating and at times terrifying. I love stories with twists that you truly don’t see coming, and I was fully engaged in this book’s mystery to the point where I’m pretty sure my heart rate spiked at times. It was also partially a love letter to Gillian Flynn and Gone Girl, which I very much appreciated. It was emotionally brutal and I loved every page of it.

Personally I think the blurb promises us more than the book actually delivers. I was drawn in by the scrap booking element and couldn't wait to uncover the Duncan family secrets with Esther. However, as the story unfolds we get less of the Duncan secrets and more of Esther's own trauma. It wasn't a bad thing but it wasn't what I expected nor wanted. I was looking for a fast-paced thriller - like the blurb conveys- instead we got trauma, info dumping, odd information about various true-crime cases, and a very unconventional ending.

I feel like the secondary characters fail to come to life and Naomi and her own problems were used as plot devices for the main characters eventual ending. For a book that took its inspiration from Gone Girl it really cannot hold a candle to that book.

That being said - we are drastically missing lesbian focused thriller novels and it was nice to see a lesbian lead who was butch and not afraid to call herself a lesbian on page. While it wasn't what I wanted my heart did break reading some of her story and I liked where she ended up even as thought it was all too convenient.

I think if you go into this novel thinking of it as a lit-fic with a small measure of crime-fiction you might enjoy it more. If anything it is worth a read if you are looking for sapphic adult fiction. If you also have more of an interest in the art world it may also be for you.

*Thank you to net galley and publisher or an ARC all thoughts and options are my own.*

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Scrap.

I thought the premise was intriguing so I was excited to read Scrap.

When Esther Ray discovers her girlfriend has left her holding the bag (and the mortgage), she accepts a job for a wealthy woman named Naomi, compiling scrapbooks. It's a secret birthday girl for Naomi's husband, Bryce, that traces their 25 year old marriage.

As Esther gets to work, she discovers secrets of a troubled family, which piques her interest in this incredibly wealthy family. And then Naomi unexpectedly dies.

Thanks to her obsession with true crime podcasts, Esther is convinced Bryce must have murdered Naomi and sets out on a path to discover the truth. But what is the truth?

First, Esther is an unlikable character. She's painfully immature, self absorbed, and whiny. Frankly, she's a loser.

She spends most of her time missing her girlfriend, which is understandable, but doesn't do anything else. She has no friends, no hobbies, not even an interesting personality. She just mopes around.

Since she's got nothing else going on in her life, she gloms onto Naomi's gilded life and troubled family.

When she learns Naomi died on vacation, Esther becomes convinced Bryce is a murderer.

I'm not even sure how Esther came to this conclusion; because binging all those true crime podcasts, she learned the general rule is that the husband/boyfriend/spouse is the killer?

The plot appeared straightforward; Bryce must have killed Naomi, then suddenly veers off into numerous subplots; embezzling, a homicidal daughter, the loner neighbor.

What the heck is going on?

And that ending? Seriously?

The narrative isn't exciting or suspenseful, nor is it a mystery.

The writing is fine, but the cast of characters is small, the mystery isn't really a mystery and I didn't care about anyone.

The only slightly interesting character is Naomi, and naturally, she's killed off.

The premise had potential but poorly developed characters, a rambling plot(s), and an ending too hard to believe made this a disappointing read.

Artist and true crime addict Esther Ray just got dumped and has bills to pay so she takes a job making scrapbooks for the wealthy Naomi Duncan to give to her husband Bryce for his 60th birthday. There are some rules: Esther needs to use nearly all the donations comments she is given, she must sign an NDA and she can only contact Naomi using a burner phone.

While Esther is working through the enormous number of documents, photos and other items Naomi dies. Esther becomes convinced that Bryce killed her. Does the answer lie in the scrapbooking materials?

This was a generally OK thriller. I enjoy books set in the Asheville, NC area as my parents lived there for a number of years and it is one of my favorite places. Interesting use of the school shooter story, I thought, though I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it.