It only takes this much to be a bestselling author?

I've been wanting to read a Freida McFadden book for a while. The ratings are pretty high and the plots sound interesting. When researching her best books, Never Lie came up second (The housemaid trilogy was generally rated higher, but I didn't feel like starting a trilogy). If this is her second best book, I'm not sure I want to read any of her other books.

Spoilers ahead!

From the beginning, the writing style pissed me off. It feels like a teenager wrote this, not. bestselling author. Lots of repetition ("oooooh, I have a big secret my husband doesn't know about, I should hint at this every chapter) and no 'show, don't tell' whatsoever. Everything is pretty much in your face and spelled out.

I can see how some people like this as a palette cleanser, but the writing style isn't for me.

The big plottwist pissed me off more though. This whole book is heavily implying Ethan is EJ. They have the same initial, the same appearance, the same interests, the same manner of talking, the same dead parents... I was happy that this wasn't the case (because it would be incredibly dumb for Tricia not to put two and two together), but the actual twist may be worse.

What do you MEAN IT WAS TRICIA ALL ALONG??????? Literally no chapter before this revelation makes sense now. This book is written from HER point of view. She knows EVERYTHING that happened. Yet we get to read how afraid she is and how reluctant she is to buy the house and sleep there and how something feels off. Then the twist comes and her POV makes a full 180. IlThe fun of mystery stories is that you get little clues sprinkled in, so you can look back and wonder how you didn't notice anything before. In this story, there was no way to tell at all. Pretty funny considering it's mentioned multiple times that every liar has a tell, yet the reader doesn't get to experience that.

As for the psychological side of things, I feel like this book was very poorly researched. The author writes about a psychiatrist, but mixes up the roles with a psychologist or therapist. A few mental disorders are mentioned by name, but none of them are represented correctly (especially when talking about empathy, impulsivity and sense of guilt). Each disorder (for the few symptoms that are actually correct) is just reduced to their very superficial stereotypes with no nuance or depth.

None of the characters is likeable in this, but I want to give an honourable mention to Adrienne Hale, "tHe BeSt PsYcHiAtRiSt ArOuNd." I know the whole point of her character is that she wasn't a good person either, but for someone who is supposed to be incredible smart and good at her job, she sure doesn't look that way. Every decision she makes (or doesn't make) is unbelievably dumb and every plan she sets up is obviously flawed and doomed to fail. The recordings with her clients didn't really convince me she was all that great at her job either.

Thr police must suck too, because what do you mean there are about 8 murders either unsolved or not even discovered??? Surely at least Luke had some family or friends who would be alerted by his disappearance and call the police. And do the cops not investigate phones in any of these crimes???

Lastly, this book makes no effort to set up a vibe. You have a large creepy house where someone has been murdered. Make me FEEL how ominous this house is. I'm generally not one to beg for long-winded descriptions of the surroundings, but when it revolves around a creepy house, please tell me how it smells, how the lights reflect on the walls, how the rooms and the furniture are aligned... ANYTHING. There was so little information on the setting itself that the image in my head started to look AI generated. Also about a quarter in the book, the author kinda forgot that everything is supposed to be super dusty.

I would've put this book at a lower score if it wasn't simply such an easy read. It keeps you engaged, but it's far from a masterpiece.