Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda

Description from Amazon:

We had no warning that she would come back...


Welcome to Hollow’s Edge - a picture-perfect neighbourhood where everyone has each other’s backs. At least, that’s how it used to be, until the night Brandon and Fiona Truett were found dead...

Two years ago, branded a grifter, thief and sociopath by her friends and neighbours, Ruby Fletcher was convicted of murdering the Truetts. Now, freed by mistrial, Ruby has returned to Hollow’s Edge. But why would she come back? No one wants her there, least of all her old housemate, Harper Nash.

As Ruby’s return sends shockwaves through the community, terrified residents turn on each other, and it soon becomes clear that not everyone was honest about the night the Truetts died. When Harper begins to receive threatening, anonymous notes, she realizes she has to uncover the truth before someone else gets hurt... Someone like her.

 

Honestly, with a description like that, who wouldn’t want to read the book? Turns out the hype was not worth it at all... And I don’t like being mean to authors as I know how much work goes into writing a book. The problem is you need to grab your audience and keep them there!

So here Ruby has been convicted of a double murder but let out because of a mistrial and has just pitched up at Harper’s house, where she used to live. As we move through Harper’s POV, we see how she sees Ruby as manipulative, and the rest of the neighbourhood don’t want her there at all, as they believe she is the murderer.

This could have played out very cleverly but there were strikes against it from the beginning. First, none of the characters were written in a way I could connect with them. I felt nothing for any of them, so whatever happened to one or all of them made no difference to me. I need to feel something for at least one character to make me believe the story. Here was a wishy washy version of all of them.

Second: it was very drawn out with far too many arbitrary things happening in the story. If this is meant to be filled with suspense or a thriller, then keep me on my toes throughout and don’t let me want to put it down in case I miss something. With this book, I questioned picking it up again.

Third: there are smart whodunnits and plots put together so cleverly you never see them coming. Here it was not a shock and actually a little silly. I got to the end and wondered if I was really supposed to believe this was the ending.

I’m all for a slow burn but there was never really fire happening here. A bunch of paranoid people, scared of anything happening (but patrolling the neighbourhood in the dark on their own at night?), keeping watch on cameras, and NOT TALKING TO EACH OTHER! If someone had just said something, it would all have come out!

I’ve heard her other books are better but based on this one, I won’t be reading any more of hers. A pity...