BOOK REVIEW: "White Out"

I would describe this book was part police procedural, part thriller, light on the investigative techniques and heavy on the dramatic fiction and suspense.

The reader is definitely kept in the dark until the very end. As I navigated through the mystery via the amnesiac and investigative characters, there is no way to figure out the big reveal, so it was engaging, constantly dangling the "who-done-it" to keep me turning the pages.

However, I'm not a huge fan of creating tension by keeping info hidden, as in had a character not kept a secret in the beginning, the story would have been over pretty quickly.  Like, if Lily had disclosed her amnesia early on, or when Iver & Mike discovered the birthmark in the pic, why didn't they immediately call Milliard to explain? It would have totally exonerated him. And 2 characters with selective amnesia specific to the night in question, thus preventing them from disclosing relevant info, was just a little much.

The pace of the action was fast, but almost too fast.  I would just finish processing one big event and then another would happen almost simultaneously. And there were just a few too many characters to keep straight; I kept losing track of which member of the law enforcement "small town good ol boy network" or "old nemesis from highschool" I was reading about.

There were definitely some areas where reality slipped a bit: our poor Lily was always getting physically battered and/or attacked by multiple people, being beaten up almost every other chapter and learning that she's being targeted by an unknown killer and she is like unfazed, mentally & physically, even though she was a survivor of previous abduction and abuse. She was apparently a heavy drug abuser, but experienced no withdrawals from quitting cold turkey. Her job wasn't mentioned beyond coworkers recognizing she'd been in some kind of accident, and even though she was injured she was expected to jump in on a medical emergency, but then she never worked again. Also, I felt like there was not enough tidying of loose ends (What happened with that jerk Kevin? And what actually happened with Iver's ex in the parking lot?). 

But overall, this was an entertaining read and the mystery was definitely twisty, as long as you're willing to overlook some things, not take it too seriously, and just go along for the bumpy ride.

3.5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.