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I wish I could rate this higher because it was definitely entertaining but I unfortunately agree with everyone else that the ending and how every culminated was a bit disappointing and I was hoping all the build up would lead to more.

I will definitely be keeping this author on my radar though and may try something else from her backlist.

This book started out decent, but really bobbled the ending. It kinda felt like the author wasn't sure which twist/ betrayal she wanted to go with, so just combined a few. The prose style was fairly smooth and I enjoyed the culty vibes. It just doesn't feel like a proper cult by the end. More like a mini-conspiracy.

A smart, experienced attorney gets a mysterious email inviting her to join a women's leadership group and the only thing she does to make sure they are legit is check their website? That TSTL (too stupid to live) moment soured me on the book right away. I did keep reading the brief, dialogue-heavy chapters, but the resolution was a cynical, unsatisfactory take on a serious issue (workplace sexual assault).

The More You Think You See, The Easier It Will Be To Fool You. For the first time since I began reading McKenzie's books (with 2018's The Good Liar) at minimum, here McKenzie uses her former profession as a lawyer to craft a women's fiction tale that almost rivals the legends of legal fiction such as John Grisham. The prologue pulls you in, the alternating timelines build the mystery, and while the pacing gets slow between the prologue and say the 3/4 mark or so, it is always with a tinge of menace right around the corner. And then that final 10-15% or so, where the title of this review really kicks in. Almost until the last word, McKenzie begins flipping everything you think you know around so much it begins to look like a Rubik's cube master's speed run. Quite an interesting tale, and very much recommended.