Darling Girls

This was a mix of not too good, not too bad, leaving a kind of mid overall impression.

The book shows abuse and childhood trauma well - sometimes, too well, and it was hard, but interesting to watch the characters deal with it and then see them as adults with different coping mechanisms. The buildup is slow and emotional and I quite enjoyed it. I also kind of liked the characters’ friendship - although it seams a tad idealised and saccharine at times, their love and support was a beautiful silver lining to the horrors they went through.

The rest…

Here are some of the things I didn’t like or found thoroughly meh:
- The book is a rather formulaic “old bones are found, present lives of characters that could be involved are disrupted” and many of the reveals are easily predictable. There is also very little suspense as we know or quickly find out who didn’t die.
- The whole baby with six toes plot is kind of rushed: she is introduced, then we are briefly made to doubt whether she was real or not, and then these doubts are quickly resolved. This, on top of everything else, feels like just another thing tacked on, not the crucial plot point it’s supposed to be.
- The therapy sessions. I get that the therapist is supposed to be jaded and/or horrible, but they look nothing like any sort of therapy sessions and are basically a way to reveal another character’s backstory - could have just been another POV.
- About the POVs - the three sisters are together almost all the time, in the past and in the present, and their voices are not that distinctive - I don’t know why the supposed different POVs were necessary.
- The final twist in the final chapter almost ruins it all. It basically turns the villain from a “hurt person who hurt other people” (not an excuse but at least somewhat complex) into a complete, almost cartoonish, villain.

Overall, it’s a read with some decently chilling moments that draws you in but ultimately fails to deliver on its promises.