Review: They Did Bad Things by Lauren A. Forry

I immediately jumped into reading They Did Bad Things when I saw it was by Lauren A. Forry. It was awhile ago, but I read and reviewed her novel, Abigale Hall, and absolutely loved it. (Read my review here!) While the premise of this novel seemed quiet different from Forry's previous novel, I loved the horror movie vibe the summary was giving. I'm sad to say that this was one of those books I expected to love, but ultimately disliked it enough that I almost didn't finish it.

The premise of They Did Bad Things is interesting enough. A group of college kids are brought together by the dilapidated, rundown house in which they each rent a room. The students couldn't be more different than each other, but they somehow make coexisting work until it, well... doesn't. The morning after a crazy party, the roommates awaken to find that one housemate has been murdered, clearly by one of the roommates themselves, but no one knows who for sure. After covering up evidence and making the crime look like an accident, the surviving roommates go on to live their lives for the next few decades until they are all lured to a mysterious hotel on an island in Scotland under false pretenses. It quickly becomes clear that no one will be checking out of this hotel alive until the truth about what happened all those years ago is revealed and justice has been served. Death and mayhem ensue and the rest of the novel plays out like your cookie-cutter horror movie.

Now, normally, I would like this, except something just doesn't work here. I could envision the story in my mind and I bet it could be a successful movie, but it just wasn't working as a novel for me. I found it very confusing to follow. The story is told from several narrators' perspectives and jumps from the past to the present to the near-past to the long ago past again, etc. Three of the characters were very similar and I kept getting them mixed up in my mind. I feel like this is something that needed to be cleaned up a little bit to make the experience less arduous for the reader. The twists and turns were far from shocking and even the gruesome bits felt like the author was trying too hard. So much of the mastermind's plan is laughably far-fetched (getting plastic surgery to assume someone else's identity???). None of the characters were likable and the ultimate reason the roommate was killed in the first place never made much sense to me. I also never fully understood how the bad guy knew which one of the roommates was responsible for the original death.

I'm frustrated because I really thought I was going to like this novel. I hate to rate it so low when I've loved her previous work, but I almost quit several times. It's never a good sign when you've made it to 90% completion and you still aren't sure the last 10% is worth your time. Forry did do a nice job when it came to creating a creepy setting in both the college rental house and the Scottish manor, but everything else just fell way short.

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆
At the time of this post, this title will be available June 2, 2020.

*Thanks to Skyhorse Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!