Reviewed by Ephantus Gold
“Very Slowly All at Once: A Tense Debut Thriller Full of Twists About the Danger of the American Dream that Gillian McAllister Calls “Devilishly Twisted” by Lauren Schott is a gripping and wickedly entertaining debut thriller that begins with a quiet moment that suddenly feels anything but ordinary. When Mack, an assistant professor of English, notices the envelope in his wife’s hand one morning, a quiet but shattering chill creeps down his spine, and his thoughts circle back to his department’s supervisor’s earlier warning about his inappropriate interactions with his students during and after the COVID lockdown. However, far from it, it turns out to be the third check in six weeks sent to him by mail, bearing his full name and postmarked from Newark, New Jersey, from a company called Sunshine Enterprises. The first one was a $5000 check, which he thought was from his criminal father, who maybe was trying to reach out to him after a long, lingering silence and a twenty-five-year period defined by a biting sense of “enmity” between them. He decided to deposit it, but remained bewildered by the sender’s consistent practice of sending other checks, each with $1000 more than the last. Purchase Here.
This story captures a devastating series of discoveries. Their cumulative weight is startling and reveals unsettling truths about Mack’s father. The story also exposes the precarious state of his mother’s care. Hailey’s shocking decision to entertain a man she sees as better than her husband adds more tension. Worst of all, this choice results in her being called out by a client in an unexpected turn. Hailey is then humiliated, used, and ghosted in quick succession. This experience seems to be part of a well-crafted blackmail and a heinous move that feels linked to a dreadful request her family may not outrun.
“Very Slowly All at Once” by Lauren Schott pulls all the right notes of a domestic thriller, with every new chapter looking determined to tighten the screws around what makes ordinary life suddenly vulnerable. It is a tale that carries a strong sense of horrific dread, as if it waits in a corner, poised to pounce on the reader and expose the fragile foundations upon which its characters have built their lives. It is also a novel that carries this slow intensity through its lines, revealing how financial strain, fractured relationships, and buried resentment can quietly corrode judgment and, as a result, build life-altering consequences out of small compromises. Schott has offered mystery lovers an outstanding work with precise pacing, emotionally grounded characters, and a story line that, from the outset, tugs at familiarity and vulnerability before steadily sliding into something far more unsettling: biting more than you can chew and life turning into a river of unexpected outcomes.