From the author of the critically acclaimed In My Dreams I Hold a Knife comes a pitch-black thriller about a woman determined to destroy a powerful cult and avenge the deaths of the women taken in by it, no matter the cost.

While in college in upstate New York, Shay Evans and her best friends met a captivating man who seduced them with a web of lies about the way the world works, bringing them under his thrall. By senior year, Shay and her friend Laurel were the only ones who managed to escape. Now, eight years later, Shay’s built a new life in a tony Texas suburb. But when she hears the horrifying news of Laurel’s death—delivered, of all ways, by her favorite true-crime podcast crusader—she begins to suspect that the past she thought she buried is still very much alive, and the predators more dangerous than ever.

Recruiting the help of the podcast host, Shay goes back to the place she vowed never to return to in search of answers. As she follows the threads of her friend’s life, she’s pulled into a dark, seductive world, where wealth and privilege shield brutal philosophies that feel all too familiar. When Shay’s obsession with uncovering the truth becomes so consuming she can no longer separate her desire for justice from darker desires newly reawakened, she must confront the depths of her own complicity and conditioning.

But in a world built for men to rule it—both inside the cult and outside of it—is justice even possible, and if so, how far will Shay go to get it?

This was one of my most highly anticipated books and after I read Ashley Winstead’s debut book In My Dreams I hold a Knife, I have been anticipating for this one.

I am not sure whether I liked this book or not. Safe to say, I would say, I liked her debut book way better than this one.

Years ago when Shay was attending college in upstate New York, she and her friends Laurel and Clem met a charming man through their roommate. But their lives changed drastically and one of their friends died causing Laurel and Shay to leave behind the past and never turn back. Now Shay is married and is living in Texas when she listens to her favorite crime podcast. Through her favorite crime podcast, she finds out that her friend Laurel is dead. Now Shay along with Jamie who is running the podcast return back to New York as Shay realizes that the cult is getting dangerous with their game…

In the first half of the chapter, the story was interesting and intriguing and it was engaging. I do like the little snippets of the podcast, where we learned a bit about Shay’s life in college, how she met the man named “Don” and how hers and her friends’ lives changed after meeting Don. I do like the total secrecy of the cult atmosphere as well. I did enjoy up to the point when I came to the ending and I didn’t really like the ending much which lowered my five star rating to a four star rating overall. Regardless, I liked the author’s style of writing and I hoping to read more of her books!