3.5 because the audiobook cast is great, but the ending keeps me from rounding up.
I was pretty entranced by this plot and the mysterious life of Violet Volk up until about the 85% mark, then I realized how little was left in the book and thought, "How on earth is this all going to wrap up in time?!" And while the book does ~ try ~ and answer most of the questions, the ending is the most disappointing part of the whole story, which really kinda stinks because there is soooo much build-up to this point! If the ending was different or even just gave more satisfying answers then "Acts of Violet" could have been a real showstopper, but I felt tricked at what we as readers are given at the end.
I will say, if you do decide to read this, the audiobook has a delightfully packed cast with plenty of narrators and really brings an extra dimension to the story. I read almost all of this via audiobook and the teeny bits I read in print definitely lack the charm the story needs to bring some life into it. Kudos to the narrators on this one! ( )

I have to sit with this one. I have no idea how I feel

DNF @ 65%

Recommended: not really, but maybe for you
For folks who love a story that suits audiobook format really well, for folks who love investigative reporting, for folks who enjoy lots of short-form formats mixed together (this is an easy book to read in small chunks because of the natural breaks)

Thoughts:
After not coming back to this for about a week, and forcing myself to pick it up for about 20% prior to that, I am finally calling it on this book for me.

I think this might be a better experience as an audiobook, particularly as I've read a few audiobook reviews that said the production value was great with unique narrators for characters and such. Considering about 30% of the writing is from a "podcast" style, this makes a lot of sense to me that it would be effective to be read aloud.

While I usually appreciate having multiple genres of text in a story, this one felt like a little too much to capture me. There was the podcast, letters, novel-style narration, news articles, emails, Instagram comments, and probably one or two other little one-off chapters that I'm forgetting. Overall, most of those felt not effective to me because they were used so frequently. Most of what I read seemed to be from the "podcast" format, though maybe that's the sense I get because it tended to drag for me. Ultimately it felt like most of these formats ended up being in a tell-not-show style since they were largely just passing on rows of facts about situations. Regardless, it took me out of it and made me hesitant to go back each time I stopped reading.

I also got tired of switching between each format. Right as I was settling into a rhythm, it would change. When I was in the flow, I was into the story, but then I was jarred out of it and had to start from "meh" again. And at 65%, there wasn't actually much story beyond a character study as far as I could tell. The main driving force for me was curiosity about the creative magical acts described, and whether or not Violet was performing true magic or just really fucking talented at faking it. But that alone wasn't enough to keep me carrying on through this.

Maybe I'll give it an audiobook try, or maybe I'll just read some spoilers and see if the latter half of the book sounds like it's worth the journey for me. 

Things that were interesting:
- the creative examples of magic
- the Russian cultural tidbits we get, like the superstitions that carried over
- some of the side characters are truly delightful 

I've always loved magicians. There's just something about the slight of hand and trickery a magician can do to fool the audience from seeing what is actually going on with their tricks. That being said, I love media about magicians too. I judged a book by it's cover and title again with this book and I wasn't disappointed!

Violet Volk was a famous magician. Let's focus on the "was", because she managed to pull off the most incredible disappearing act during one of her shows and has never been seen again. The ten year anniversary is upon us and her sister Sasha is trying to pick up the pieces from the traumatic event that's hitting her all over again.... ten years later. A new podcast is in the works and they are chasing Sasha down, her own daughter is obsessed with her Aunt, and things just seem to be getting more and more unsettling. Will the mystery be figured out?...

The ending left me feeling.... very "womp womp." I expected a lot more and I found the ending to just not be what I wanted it to be. Was the ending I expected? No. Is it the ending I want? No. Overall, it made this book that was climaxing and doing SO well kind of fall apart for me. I'm sure other readers will eat it up, but I felt like it wasted the potential it built. The beautiful cover, the incredible story idea, the synergy it was building to just... fall.

I have to say it's disappointing as a story but Margarita Montimore's writing was INCREDIBLE. So I'll still be supporting this wonderful author and be picking up more books ASAP. Just not re-reading this one.

Two out of five stars due to the ending. ( )

When I first started this one, I was like, "Wow, this is awesome!" I really liked how the story unfolded through podcast episodes, newspaper articles, and emails. But I didn't enjoy the narrative portions from Sasha's perspective as much. These sections feel less complex than I want them to, and her daughter does not seem like a 21-year-old person to me. It's an interesting concept, but I left the novel uncertain of what the purpose was. And I really don't like therapy sessions in fiction. ( )