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Title: Great promise, but details go awry
Review: Shreve weaves a compelling story, sucking the reader into the vortex of threatening and dangerous jealousy. Her ability to shift between time frames shows immense writerly control, and her descriptive language is arresting. Less successful is her handling of the "murder mystery" details. What actually happened that night? Since Shreve writes so meticulously, the reader feels let down by details that are not logical. For example, if it was so cold outside, why was Maren lying in bed without covers? What happened between Thomas and Jean? The ending seems oddly truncated and uncentered; the horrible tragedy is reduced to nothing more than a sense of disorientation and malaise.
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