Skip to main content

Snake Oil by Kelsey Rae Dimberg - Review

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Description: Contemporary women's tech & wellness work culture thriller told from 3 perspectives of varying ranks in the company, from top to bottom

Mood: Anxious thriller that will keep you turning pages to find out what happened

to characters that perished before the novel even began.. 

Snake Oil is only my second wellness industry mystery and it was fairly good. I'm really not sure that I'd call it a thriller or a suspense novel though, personally. Though I can see how readers might get that vibe from a couple of the main characters' general anxiety being exacerbated by important or otherwise stressful events in the story.

The novel is told through the perspectives of 3 women who work together at a wellness company startup in San Francisco.

Rhoda, the found and CEO of the company Radical, is focused on what she hopes to be her final round of funding and is preparing to "unicorn" at any cost. Dani and Cecilia work together in customer service at the beginning of their journeys at Radical, until Dani is promoted for super shady reasons that really serve as PR to save the company face after an embarrassment.

Dani is infatuated with Radical and all things Rhoda, however, and is blind to what's happening even when confronted with evidence. Cecilia, on the other hand, isn't fooled at all by the company's "all in it together to be-better" crap as she calls it. She has serious menstrual health issues that nothing helps and she hates the company for blatantly stating that you can make yourself healthy and well if you try hard enough.

If I were to able to relate to any of the characters in this novel, unfortunately, it would be Cecilia, as we share common medical and resulting social and work issues. However, I found myself unable to connect with any of the characters beyond the surface level. It's hard to put a finger on exactly why, but they all felt written by the same person, which isn't a great thing.

Despite being clearly different characters with different background stories and totally different lifestyles and goals - they just had a sameness to them still. This is what made the novel a 3 rather than a 4 for me.

The twist at the end of the book did surprise me, somewhat. I had begun to suspect what was actually going on with one part of the mystery, but not the rest. The author makes a rather splashy finish, by  contrast to the rest of the book, which I definitely didn't see coming.

This final major event in the novel will seal the bond between two of the three women for life. It will change absolutely everything for both of them, going forward.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Dark Library ARC by Mary Anna Evans - Review

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Description: An atmospheric family drama with an academia theme set against a historical fiction backdrop that will keep you guessing at the details of the mystery until the very end Mood: Slow-burn Modern Gothic Mystery  I've never read Mary Anna Evans writing before, but I loved this book. I'm so glad that I came across this stand alone, as I feel like it was a really great way to get a sense of her style without committing to an unfamiliar series. Now that I've read The Dark Library, however, I'll definitely be TBRing both of her popular series! As for The Dark Library novel itself, wow! The plotline was delicately laced with just the right amount of intricately laid clues to keep me guessing - incorrectly - the entire time. The character development and characters' backstory development were very good for a short novel; particularly one with a fairly long list of secondary characters. The secondary characters while plentiful, do all feel neces...
1 comment
Read more

INTO THE FOREST: A Novel by Jean Hegland - Review

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  Description: A serious exploration of the MC's self and her and her sister's places in the world as it changes in radical and unexpected ways. Alone, they spend the year they expected to spend prepping to leave for college adjusting to a new reality in which the forest will either sustain them or kill them.  Mood: Get away from it all- even toiletries, stable shelf goods, music, electricity, and any other modern convenience you can name.. but the forest is beautiful in spring and summer A very serious look at what it means to be human, what it means to be a sister, and what it means to even exist in this world. The descriptive differences in the MC's journal between surviving and living are palpable at times, exacerbated in its intensity by the effect of the Encyclopedia passages that are fluidly woven in through out her entries. The story is told in the form of one of the two sisters - Nell's journal entries. Early in the book, the girls celebrate w...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt by Chelsea Iversen - Review

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Description: Gothic Magical Realism w Victorian Historical Fiction Backdrop Mood: Time for Tea - and Resisting the Patriarchy in Gentle Ways  This novel is such an endearing story of strong spirited - but extremely downtrodden and naïve- Harriet's struggle to break free from the constraints of not only Victorian society, but those who wish to use the rules of their society against her for their own selfish gains. Although loneliness and forced solitude cast a dark shadow on even Harriet's earliest memories, she is never truly alone even in her darkest times. This is definitely the part of the story that I found most touching, and most integral to Harriet's journey to self-discovery. Harriet loses her mother at a young age, and her father unfairly blames her for it. As a result, he detests the girl and locks her away for the remainder of her adolescence; barely providing her with necessities and keeping her away from society. After threatening to lock her away i...
Post a Comment
Read more