Book 723: Once You Go This Far – Kristen Lepionka

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this. When the publisher reached out to me about an ARC I liked the synopsis and loved the fact Lepionka co-hosts a podcast called “Unlikeable Female Characters”, so said sure why not.*

I don’t know if it’s worth noting (but clearly, I’m noting it), the first thing I noticed on Goodreads is I am one of very few men who have read this book prior to release. I don’t know if that means we’re not the target audience or if it was just a coincidence, but I thought it was interesting.

I knew going in that this was the fourth book in the Roxane Weary series, but I didn’t see this as an issue since every other series I’ve read has so much back fill that it gets tiring if you’re a dedicated reader (and I usually complain about it). Unfortunately, I get why it’s necessary now. This was definitely a book I could get behind, but there were so many references or dark hints to what happened in previous books I definitely had to stop a few times to try and figure out if it was something that I missed earlier in this book. I don’t think that’s a reflection on the author, but more so on the serialization of EVERYTHING complex.

“Not knowing was hard for me. It always was. This was part of why I’d bailed on my plan of becoming a psychologist—I was too nosy, too hungry for the why. You can’t act on people’s problems as a psychologist, just talk. And talking had its place, but so did doing.” (Chapter 1)

I liked Roxane as a character, not as a person—so I guess that fits the unlikeable female characters that Lepionka is known for? There’s definitely a lot going on with her and she’s definitely emotionally stunted, and frankly she’s kind of a dick, but I think that’s why she works so well as an investigator. I mean, it’s not much of a stretch to say that she’s the same over written male PI character, but since she’s a woman it just comes off harsher and unlikeable. There was some family drama, that I wasn’t at all invested in, probably because I hadn’t read the first three books.

I thoroughly liked that Roxane is some flavor of LGBT+ (bisexual maybe?), but have no idea how she identifies. It wasn’t made explicitly clear in this novel, but she clearly has a female ex and is currently with a man, so there’s some sort of flexibility in there somewhere.

“It’s in the queer bill of rights that when your lover ditches you in the dead of winter, you get to drink her whiskey and not feel bad about it.” (Chapter 17)

The story kept me mostly engaged in that I kept reading and I didn’t struggle to read it, but as I neared the end of the book the tension I want from a mystery/thriller just wasn’t there. I’m not quite sure if this was the author’s pacing or the story itself. The pacing worked 80% of the time, but the other 20% of the time it was either lurching drastically forward making me think I missed something or felt like treading water (expanding energy to stay in one place).

The story, a religious group taking things too far, is one that’s been done before (both better and worse), but I liked the way Lepionka went about telling it and introducing us slowly to the various offshoots and interconnected individuals. And I appreciated the Harry Potter shout out,

“‘Fortunately, the dude has moved on to subtler forms of persuasion.’ She opened a new link, this one an article entitled Harry Potter: Harmless Christian Novel or Doorway to the Occult?” (Chapter 4)

I have cousins that weren’t able to read it (honestly, still not sure if they have), because their parents pretty much thought the latter. Thankfully, I didn’t grow up in that closed minded of a family or even church community, but this shit’s real.

There were no major surprises as the story wrapped up, which was disappointing because one of the big reveals really should’ve been like WTF?! I’m not sure if it was my unconsciously processing all the various clues and connecting the dots to early, but yeah it just sort of let me thinking “well duh, that’s how they did it.”

Recommendation: I think if you’ve read the first three books in this series you’ll appreciate this a lot more. Lepionka’s writing was approachable and engaging, but there seems to be so much back story and history with this character that without having read the first books in the series, you’re left wanting and asking quite a few questions.

*I received a copy of Once You Go This Far via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “It happened on the first day that felt like autumn.”

Closing Line: “And we drank.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)