You Shouldn’t Have Come Here

Every year, Grace leaves New York City to find a random vacation spot. This year, it is an Airbnb ranch in middle-of-nowhere Wyoming. She soon finds that it forgoes small-town charm, with dead animals, hostile townspeople, and creeps galore. There’s no Wi-Fi, no cell service, and soon after arriving, no working car. Fortunately, the ranch also includes handsome host Calvin, who soon becomes her eager, possibly obsessed, lover. In Grace, he sees another chance at love, if only he could keep her there forever. The underlying tension is the true strength, present and palpable from beginning to end. However, it is steady to a fault, with only a few short, odd bursts of terror that feel more out of place than anything. Readers may forget it is a thriller altogether and may be turned off by overly repetitive descriptions. Occasional philosophic ponderings make for beautiful quotes but are somewhat random and can work against the cohesiveness of the story. The characters are never fleshed out, lessening the impact of the final twist.