Wow, I needed to sit for a while after reading this YA novel. This certainly wasn't the book I thought I was going to read when I picked it up. That's not to say it wasn't a good read, but it was a dark read, with dark subjects, subjects that aren't spoken about enough, familial domestic abuse, domestic violence, gaslighting, verbal abuse. There was a dark foreboding as I read that had me unable to put the book down even as Finn's life and what he thought he knew spiralled further out of control.
As he learns what gaslighting is and slowly starts to realise the way his father treated his mother and how he was copying that behaviour, I could feel the horror as he came to understand what had been going on in his family.
As the book goes on his life slowly starts to spiral out of control as things he'd forgotten purposely or subconsciously, come out into the light. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion, knowing that when everything stops, nothing is ever going to be the same again.
While dealing with this, Finn also has to deal with his feelings towards his new friend Loki, feelings that add to the stress he is already going through and which I felt were a big part of tipping his subconscious over the edge. While one of the tags for this book was LGBTQI, this was a very tiny part, it definitely played a role in his mental health, but wasn't the focus of the story.
Secrets, lies, misunderstandings, denial, a dysfunctional family, there was a lot in this YA novel and everything that happened built to a climactic /explosive outcome.
This was a 5 star read for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Text Publishing for a digital copy in return for an honest review.
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