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Cackle
Rachel Harrison
Narrator Dylan Moore
293 pages, 10 hours
Published Oct 5, 2021 by Berkley Publishing Group
About the Book:
A darkly funny, frightening novel about a young woman learning how to take what she wants from a witch who may be too good to be true, from the author of The Return.
All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.
Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?
My Review:
I placed a hold on the audiobook at the library and had to wait 7 weeks, well past Halloween, but that’s ok. At least I was able to get a copy!
The Narrator did a fabulous job! Her voice was so soothing, I swear it put me in a trance! Especially the voice of Sophie. Simply lovely.
Obviously there is a picture of a spider on the cover, but I didn’t think there would be so much spidery commentary in the book. I’m deathly afraid of spiders and so it took me a hot minute to get used to hearing about them within the story. They don’t play a huge role (for anyone who feels like I do) but just beware – you will hear about them a few times in a very generic fashion.
I absolutely loved the friendship between Annie and Sophie which is the main thread of the book. I felt there were other parts of the story that involved characters which could have been more developed, or tied into the story. But as they were truly side characters that didn’t move the main storyline ahead, I suppose it’s fine.
A couple somewhat gory scenes that I was surprised by. The ending was grand! No spoilers here but it felt just right! Overall I’d say this is probably a 3.5 read for me. I really liked parts of the book and others were just ok. It was definitely an interesting book, not what I expected it to be.
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