Courtney Gould

Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould is a twisty story that will have you pulling for a protagonist you may very well not like a lot.

I will admit this has a slow build, but I didn't mind because the background, both of information and of what makes the characters tick, helps to make the rest of the story better. I commented above about not necessarily liking the protagonist, a concept I find problematic since we never actually "know" any fictional being, but I do have a similar way of thinking about that, would I be more or less likely to want to know more about the character if it was a real person and I only know what is in the book. Frankly, I would want to know Beck better. I also have to say that I don't expect young characters to make only good decisions in a novel. Hell, I don't expect that of older adults in real life, I certainly can't expect that of a fictional teenager in a novel that, like all novels, rely on some bad decisions to help propel the plot. So, yeah, a teenager made some shallow and not very good decisions. Are you really surprised?

I saw someone comment that the romantic connection wasn't believable. Again, are you surprised if two characters in a work of fiction connect in a way that seems unusual? Their coming together here makes as much sense as the vast majority of novels, short stories, films, and even real life stories I've seen. Would I, would you, in the same circumstances? Maybe not, but we're not there. I thought it was believable enough for two characters with their own respective issues to feel a connection.

I would recommend this to readers who don't mind a slow burn that does speed up, enjoy twists that run the gamut from just unusual to perhaps supernatural/paranormal, and don't mind suspending disbelief long enough to inhabit this world.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (more)