Review: Welcome to Murdertown by Rian Wynne

"I definitely don’t have an off-switch in my brain that says it’s okay to let this one go."

That's the book, basically.

Summary:
Marty Gray is our main character, and she never learned how to let go. Her brother disappeared when she was eight years old. Twenty years later, she still lives in the home her parents fled ten years ago, desperate for a new start.

After spending most of her life investigating her own brother's disappearance, Marty starts an ill-fated podcast about two hikers who went missing in a local ghost town. Nearly a year after the spectacular failure of this podcast, three men are murdered in a parking lot in Marty's town. Like every other mystery Marty has ever heard of, she can't get this one out of her head.

My Thoughts:
Marty really grew on me. Like, she definitely needs a fantastic therapist and also maybe a nap. But she feels like a real person with real trauma. She makes several stupid choices, but you always see where she is coming from.

If there is ever a sequel. More Peabody, please.

I think the pacing was pretty good. It always felt like something new was happening, but not so quickly that it was hard to keep up. There is a section right at the end that felt a bit infodumpy, but it made sense, I suppose. Felt more like a recap than a rushed ending, which was nice.

As for the mystery itself: I genuinely did not see a lot of these twists coming. Yet they all felt logical. There were enough hints that I think a reread would be fun, but not so many that it gave the game away too quickly. I do think that in the early middle of the book there starts to become a lot of names and dates to keep up with. By the time I finished the book, though, I knew who everyone was and what had happened when. So hang in there!

Final Opinion
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick, satisfying read. I would love to read more from this author, and I would be interested in seeing a return from Marty Gray.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy! All opinions are my own.