I had such high hopes for this one. So high that I put off reading this book because I wanted to read it at a time when I had nothing else going on and I could just settle in and read all day without interruption. Unfortunately, this one didn’t live up to the excitement that I’d built up, and it makes me sad to say that. I read the Chemical Garden trilogy by this author (writing as Lauren DeStefano) several years ago. It’s a young adult series, and I really loved the story and writing style. DeStefano is definitely a talented writer. Unfortunately I just couldn’t fully buy into the premise of this one, and the ending had me wondering what the hell was wrong with one of the characters.

In order for me to adequately explain the reasoning behind my low rating of this book, I am going to have to spoil some of it, so if you intend to read the book – which I encourage – books are subjective and you may love this one – but if you want to go in blind, you should definitely use the chapters to skip to the next review.

The book begins with Sissy – one of three triplets – sitting in a diner. One of her other sisters speaks to her through an earpiece and they’re trying to pick someone out – we soon discover they’re looking for a victim. As the synopsis tells us, Sissy and her sisters – Iris & Moody (not their real names) are serial killers and they hunt men, make them fall in love with them and then murder them. They typically spend a few months with the guy, make him really fall for them and then off him. One sister prefers strangling them, while the other prefers a very bloody death. Up until now, Sissy has acted as a sort of cleaner. Once the dude is dead, Sissy is called in. She’s listened to a lot of true crime podcasts and watched true crime programs, and she knows how to thoroughly clean up a crime scene. The body is disposed of and the sisters move on to a new town with new identities and search for their next victim.

Up until this point, Sissy has killed no one, but her sisters are insisting it’s now her turn, so they’ve traveled to Arizona. Sissy has picked out a burial spot for the body – she plans to dismember him and bury him in a new development where a lot of construction is happening. The only thing missing is a victim, but then she spots a hot guy with no wedding ring walk into the diner and immediately puts a target on him. She poses as Jade Johnson – a woman who recently moved to town to get her dead mother’s affairs in order, and since it’s a small town, she assumes everyone attends church and she’ll more than likely see her intended victim there. That she does, and before long she learns his name is Edison. He is a widower (the love of his life was killed by a drunk driver) which makes him emotionally vulnerable and ripe for the picking.

Sissy (aka Jade) sinks in her claws and it’s not long before she has Edison eating out of the palm of her hand, but soon she finds herself unexpectedly smitten with him – despite reminding herself of how she’s going to kill him and move on. As the weeks and then months go by, Sissy gets Edison right where she wants him, but her sisters are afraid she’s grown too fond of her victim and may not go through with it. Sissy has also gotten too involved with a neighbor who is a victim of domestic abuse. The more Sissy gets emotionally involved with these people, her sisters are afraid it’s less likely that she’ll finish the job, so they intervene and things get even more deadly.

As I said earlier, on the surface this sounds great, but there were just too many areas where I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to make me enjoy the book as a whole. First of all, I used to co-host a true crime podcast – this by no means makes me a forensic expert, but I have picked up a few things. First of all – they are always going to suspect the wife/girlfriend/lover – whatever you are – first. No matter how many people say, “Oh, she could never have done it – she loved him too much. She was far too sweet.” Yeah – doesn’t matter. I also feel like spending six plus months with him to make it look like you really love him does nothing more than make you even more of a suspect. She would have had better luck had she picked him up at the diner – drove to a motel and killed him and then was on her way. She stuck around far too long and far too many people knew her in town, fake name or not.

I also found it strange that the town was so small that everyone went to the same church, yet no one asked Sissy (aka Jade) who her mother was. If she was in town taking care of her dead mother’s affairs in a small town, I feel like someone is bound to ask who the mom was and wonder why they didn’t know her.

Another thing that bugged me about halfway through the novel were the elaborate murder scenarios Sissy would concoct in her head when she realized she was falling for Edison. On one hand, it seemed as though she was trying to put herself back in the game, but after a while, it got tired.

I think my biggest problem with the book was the ending. Yes – major spoiler alert ahead. Sissy’s sisters try to intervene but end up getting caught. One dies, the other takes the fall for everything and Sissy is free to go. In the process, Edison learns that Sissy intended to murder him, yet agrees to meet her after all is said and done. She confesses to him, but he decides to give her another chance, and even asks her to show him where she planned on burying him. What the fuck?

Honestly, if the author would have flipped everything on its head at the end and had Sissy murder him and bury him and then drive off into the sunset, I would have flipped my rating around and been 100% on board. I would have forgiven the things that bothered me earlier, but as it stands, Edison is a dumb ass and decided that he was 100% okay with Sissy wanting to murder him. I have to wonder about Edison’s mental health and self worth.

Despite an interesting premise and some promise, a few plot holes and an awful ending left me underwhelmed.