Thomcat
11/24/2021
I found this book SLOW and often anticlimactic. Ada was a strong main character, and much (or too much) of her growth is shown. Started as an audiobook, where it was even SLOWER (14 hours!).
A strong female main character and broad cast of other characters, all fairly different. Ada is connected to both techie adults and teens with teen problems (cliques, alcohol, etc.) - along with a mystery.
With all the ingredients of a good story, it could have been much better. It was slow. I TBR'd this for the blurb at the time, something along the lines of "teenage daughter's father disappears, and she must solve a mystery connected to a computer". Minor spoiler - the disappearance was due to Alzheimer's, and it was AS painful to read about it as it was to live through a parent having it - while being part of the plot, this did NOT need major billing. Maybe the author was working through her own experience here?
About 40% of the way through, the story suddenly jumps two decades into the future - but shortly after rolls back to continue the previous plotline. Interesting, but that didn't work for me either. I ended up abandoning the audio book a little past half-way and read the rest in under two hours, with very little skimmed. Yes, the audio book was that slow.
I liked elements of this novel, but I wouldn't recommend it.