Morgan Rae

This was truly so, so strange.
I need to think about it more before writing lol I will return to this

Very good portrait of the ~”mundane tragedy” of being a woman, wife, and mother, and the burdens therein solitarily shouldered, in sickness and in health.
I liked the way the timeline of the book was presented, it reminded me of Pachinko a little.

A very slow and winding whodunit situated in rural Ireland. I enjoyed it and found the writing pleasant, but the plot was almost unbearably slow. I'd say the majority of the action happens ~75% of the way in. It also resolves rather quickly which was dissatisfying (though not enough to DNF it). The main plot ties itself into a nice bow at the end, but the sub plots are unresolved.

French is very good at leading the reader to water / showing-not-telling. That said there were several chunks where I had to push myself to keep reading despite massive confusion. French is in cahoots with the characters, and they're having a joke at your expense. The joke is that you don't know what the telltale signs of a meth lab are :)

The writing can also get repetitive, sometimes it feels intentional as our main character is a bit of a bumbling cop type who ~”analyses the world around him for threats”, “is always on high alert”, etc. except for when he's getting ambushed in his own driveway.

It wasn't so scary that I couldn't sleep after reading it before bed, but it does have an eeriness to it. French does an excellent job of giving the scenery its due. You can feel the mist.

Quite good, a masterclass in foreshadowing. It does an excellent job of engaging with moralism without being too religiously motivated.
This reads like the beginning of a longer novel, but ends before it gets too predictable and unwieldy. I wish there was a bit more historical context woven in, as I wasn't familiar with Irish Laundries before this (nor was the wikipedia page on the Magdalene Laundry super detailed). Still, excellent writing with characters that are modern enough to be relatable but unplagued by technology and modern drama. This book has a sense of being removed from time, which I enjoyed.

Read this in one sitting, I was so belligerently hopeful for a twist that I could not put it down. The narration is simple by design, which was a bit grating at first but grew on me as I read.
It checks my “leaves me with more questions than answers” box, which makes it at least 3 stars and I was left wanting more, which makes it 4.