The List by Kiersten Modglin

[Kelly]

Just like her other book I read The Dinner Guests, the author wastes no time getting the mystery going which is one of the aspects I admire about her books. That’s why I was so sad when the ending of the book wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be.

Especially near the beginning of the book things can get confusing when there are multiple chapters from different POVs and you can go many pages not hearing from each one. Obviously it’s easy to follow Jordyn and “Him” but all other characters are tricky when they are in and out of the light of the book.

If you do the math, there wouldn’t be enough kids to fill the lists for 10 years. The book even mentions how many kids were murdered in the span of 10 years and there's no way there were that many kids in a small town. Especially since parents are most likely to have less kids for the very reason of losing them.

The book also doesn’t explain (view spoiler)[what they are being killed for. The book makes it seem like it's because of scandalous secrets that the townspeople have but it seems more so like any parent who talks about the murders gets punished or just other random children. The ones in the town that do have “secrets” such as an affair or something don’t even have their kids killed but rather are the ones doing the dirty work for setting up the killings (unwillingly of course). (hide spoiler)]

How did he get so much access to everyone(view spoiler)['s technology/bugging everything? There's no way he was able to get access to everyone’s house and set all of that up. He’s not a handyman that installs technology in people’s homes. Even if he did, how does he have time to view all the footage at the same time as hiding it from his wife (hide spoiler)]?

Once you find out who the killer is, he (view spoiler)[explains why he started it all and I just don't believe he could get away with it all. With his face to face threatening people with their kids' lives (this was at the beginning of his “killing career”), there’s no way those parents are not doing anything about it. Also the fact that the whole town is just turning a blind eye (until 10 years later an outsider changes their minds… I don’t think so). I also don’t believe he would continue beyond the first few kills. His intentions were only for the baby and the others were to cover up that it was him so there was no reason why it would go on for 10 years. I mean, he did move away, but if he was that obsessed with what he was doing in the small town, why did he move? That takes him away from enjoying watching how much control he has over the town. (hide spoiler)]

There were just too many plot holes and reasons for me to not see the story in a logical sense for me to enjoy the book.(view spoiler)[Especially since the killer was linked to the main character (which is such an overused plot of a lot of books that I’m so tired of). The ending especially was soap-opera-like with the drama of the rally and beyond. The epilogue especially was way too cheesy. (hide spoiler)]