Nat reviewed The Amendment by Kiersten Modglin
Disappointing compared to the first
2.0 stars
Content warning Spoilers ahead. Spoiler-free take: not like the first book, characters were one-dimensional.
I was so excited to read this book, and so disappointed that it was unlike the first! When I read the first book in the series, I was sold on this author. The characters were mysterious which maybe I misread as depth. The ending was a believable twist I could not have guessed.
This book wasn't that. The characters from the first book had their motives reduced and it felt very one-dimensional. More progression was needed. The FMC went from killing to save her marriage to killing because she enjoyed it with zero progression or rationale.
Then the idea of the FMC being "made into a killer" by her husband was hammered into us, but wasn't believable. Her husband didn't make her into a killer; he was even actively refusing to involve her in it. And the ending was predictable.
A better progression for the FMC's character development would have been a revenge arc. The initial murder was self-defense, the next murder could have been revenge trying to save her marriage, and the following murder could have been manipulating the situation because she wanted another revenge kill. More description of the FMC's feelings during the murders might have also helped. The FMC's "I feel powerful" motive just didn't make sense with the plot we were given, or with her initial "I'd do anything to save my family" motive she had in the first book.