The blurb persuaded me that this would be a good addition to my autumn reading and the atmosphere is right. Unfortunately, the rest of the book was a let down.

There's no real plot to speak of, just a paper-thin pretense to put the main character in a new setting. The story revolves around the protagonist's relationship with a new friend. Our protagonist, Anne, is an exceptionally basic woman suffering after a recent break-up. Her new friend, Sophie, is older, wiser, and very mysterious. There are red flags almost immediately upon their meeting and so much toxic behaviour that I found myself constantly disbelieving that Anne was still engaging with any of this.

There were some genuinely creepy moments in the first 1/3 of the book, but those petred out in the slog that was the middle section. It felt like we were circling the same character development issues for a very long time before taking off and going anywhere. Then, in the last 10% of the book, a great many things happen that feel wildly inconsistent with the first 90%. I can think of some plausible explanations for these developments, but they weren't offered by the author.

I think the author was trying to make a statement about self-love, self-worth, self-discovery, and feminism, but what I read came across more like wildly irresponsible selfishness excused with a juvenile "They hit me first so beating them to death and taking all of their stuff is okay" kind of logic.

There were a few issues with diction which should have been caught by an editor. Very much of the "I do not think that word means what you think it means" variety. For me, these kinds of errors are jarring and pull me out of the story quickly and thoroughly.

I had high hopes for Cackle but was ultimately disappointed. If you're dying for a mysterious, witchy story, this might work for you but otherwise I'd give it a pass.