Let's Talk About Books

So I looked all over on BookLikes for this one and can't find it. So I'll link the Goodreads page if anyone is interested in finding it. 

I listened to this one via audiobook on Overdrive. The Black Painting by Neil Olson follows a wealthy and dysfunctional family in the wake of the death of the grandfather and head of the family. Was it just a heart attack that killed ol' pop pop? Who stole his apparently haunted Goya painting and is there a demon making the family a hot mess?

I really enjoyed this one. It was very gripping and it was difficult to stop listening. Olson does a good job of keeping the plot moving and creating the interesting twists and turns. The characters were also all interesting. I can't say there's one I didn't like as a character, though many were awful human beings. It's also a good example of an unreliable narrator, though I won't say which narrator was the unreliable one. 

The big issue with this book is it was incredibly predictable, at least for me. I figured out pretty much every twist/aspect of the mystery early on in the novel. I don't know if that's me being perceptive or if it's just obvious. He still does a good job of connecting the dots, Olson just makes the final picture kind of obvious. 

Final rating: 4 out of 5. Predictable but engaging just the same.