A huge thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Flame Tree Press for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF 23%. I think this could be an interesting book for someone who can ignore some of the more typical pitfalls of sexism and overly-flowery language found in this book, but personally I could not. The concept drew me in with paranormal investigations in space, but unfortunately for me personally it wasn’t enough to get me to force myself to read more than what I already have.

If you like more typical cop dramas, and “ghost investigation” shows like Ghost Adventures, then I’d say to give this book a chance to see if it hooks you. Unfortunately, it did not click with me at all.

Also, be warned that there is suicide and depression mentioned and explicitly shown in this book very early on, and the theme continues as it progresses.

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The rest of my review will contain spoilers and I’ll be a little meaner. If you want to avoid spoilers, and/or you liked this book I wouldn’t bother continuing to read. I just need to nitpick because never have I made so many little notes in my phone’s kindle.

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I’m serious. It’s mean.

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The main character Kendra is self-obsessed to the extreme, with everything happening causing her to go “but woe is me! My family died mysteriously!! No one could ever understand my pain!!!” Normally I’d be more willing to take into account her emotions, but when this is accompanied by people experiencing real trauma - INCLUDING someone dying violently because they slit their own throat - then I lose my patience.

Also the ghost investigator is very annoying, and after I saw a comment saying that him being named “Zak” and having every single mannerism as Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures - I couldn’t unsee it. I’m also supposed to feel like there’s some kind of attraction between them, but neither character is compelling enough to both feel that way, nor for me to see it progress.

He “investigates” by feeling for EMF - but with his hands. By himself. He just goes off of vibes, I guess.
“Zak felt the EMF with his body, and I confirmed with my Mel-meter. It really validates the scientific method.”
It does not.

I mentioned earlier that there was quite a bit of sexism present in this book, and after one specific line I even went “this HAD to have been written by a man,” and lo and behold I was correct. There’s also quite a bit of fatphobia present, which does not in any way need to be present other than to simply make the joke “The cop is racist, a creep, and fat! Him being fat is part of why he’s a bad person.” Over. And Over.

This book starts off with Kendra being awoken to investigate a situation in the infirmary. (She did not need to be present at all during this scene, by the way.)

A character has decided to commit suicide by slitting her own throat (surely there’s easier ways?) because of a scary vision she psychically had. Sure, but then Kendra asks her questions and she seems coherent enough to be able to respond and shake her head with little issues, despite her throat being so cut that the doctor can barely stop it from bleeding out AND her dying soon after.

Kendra responds to being told what this horrible vision is by assuming it couldn’t be worse than what she’s dealing with. Also, Kendra says to the dying woman when asking her questions, “If you plan on living, you can tell me later. But if you’re gonna check out, at least tell me what drove you to this.” Completely normal way to ask someone violently dying by suicide what happened.

And then, when she sees the woman coworker of the woman who quite literally killed herself less than an hour ago, she describes her as:
“Men probably found her attractive but only those who could get by her morose disposition.”
Did I imagine the scene of the bloody suicide where she saw a coworker kill herself? Or?

Also, the next line is “Her chest heaved with an anxiety she kept very much to herself,” which is what prompted me to go “Oh a man definitely wrote this”. Cannot escape the “she breasted boobily down the stairs” cliche, can we? Also, the main woman character describes hearing a woman yell, as “a female,” and not a woman. Yikes.

Kenra then proceeds to examine every emotion this woman has, up to and including finding her suspicious for being so upset. But no worries! There’s a reason she’s so upset!! It’s not that that was traumatic, oh no, it’s because she has depression!! I wish I was joking.

Nitpicking characters aside, here are a few lines that made me go “WTF does this even mean?”

“The glock in Kendra's shoulder holder slid out as if greased.”
“A bathroom with a sink and toilet, a powder room the Realtors would say.”
“His voice sounded soft and soothing like a therapist, perhaps a lover.”
“[ - ] visualized in colors, soft angles, conjectural shapes. That’s why she hated the dark.”
“It looked like a gigantic rough-cut cigar. Or a Cheech-and-Chong-worthy joint.”