I’ve seen reviews complaining that the beginning might be a little slow, but it is so, so necessary in understanding the environment of the book. If you thought you knew office politics, publishing has a whole other set of caveats. It’s apparent this was written by someone who used to be the industry. Moreover, the establishment of the unfortunate status quo sets up the rest of the novel. The dread enters as soon as we know normal.

The craftwork of this novel is also incredibly tight. No details gets unused. The reader figures things out at the same time that Nella does, which make the reveals land so much harder when awful hunches become confirmed truths. The pacing works on a similar level. Both the reader and Nella float on waves of relief and stress and of understanding and confusion in a way that makes it hard to put this book down.

One of my favorite parts was Nella’s relationship with Malaika. It’s nice to see a main character have support and friendship in a story like this. Which makes the ending so much more chilling (and that’s all I’ll say about that). It also establishes an alarming sense of scale to the threat that’s hunting Nella, which only builds additional layers of dread.