The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney 🔖🔖🔖

I'm struggling to decide if this gets 3 or 4 stars. I may have to go with 3.5. It was a page turner for me in many parts, but not all. Some parts seemed to drag on and just didn't pull me in. More than half of it, however, kept me reading past my self-imposed limits. Yet I'm not sure it belongs on my list of books I'd really recommend others read. Not because it's not interesting, but because it's not necessarily "wow, I'm glad I read that" kind of book.

I did love the portrayal of the characters and really enjoyed that the reader is drawn into who they are through dialogues and being privy to private thoughts. I was surprised by some of the plot twists and felt impressed by this as the clues were definitely there for me to have figured it out. I did think about the book at times when I wasn't reading, trying to figure it out. The atmosphere/culture is quite interesting and I feel I learned about Romanies without being lectured about their lives. That's a huge plus.

So what were the drawbacks? The biggest one I can think of is that the alternating narrators were at times so similar to each other (a grown man and a teenage boy), that it was distracting. I realize part of her point may be how similar they ultimately are in their thoughts and their journey, yet there wasn't enough distinction at some points and I had to go back to the start of the chapter to remember who was "talking." It wasn't so distracting that I couldn't go on with it, but it was still there.

Read it if you are in the mood for a light page turner, but no need to run out and buy it to own your own copy.