I was SO excited by the concept of a magic-wielding serial killer, but I was disappointed that serial killer was not actually a big part of this book.I must have glossed over the part of the blurb that mentions that Conjured is also an amnesia story. Eve, the main character, is in witness protection but doesn't remember why. But instead of regaining her memory, she keeps passing out and losing it. She's constantly being told she's in danger, but I never felt that.Characters with amnesia can be tricky in my experience as a reader -- a person who is trying to remember her own personality can easily come off as flat. This was definitely the case with Eve. While I felt for her, her blankness made it hard to connect with her. The other characters are… well, they may have had too much personality. Zach, the love interest, just blurts out whatever is in his head. He meets Eve and tells her he wants to kiss her and see if her lips taste like strawberries. Okaaaay …. That said, he wasn't the stereotypical smoldering book boy, and he did grow on me. Many of the other characters (such as Eve's handlers) have similarly offbeat senses of humor. Their wackiness set against Eve's blankness did give the book a "Who's on First" vibe that was funny at times, but this did not mollify me -- I still wanted scary serial killer action.Eve's story, told in third person, is periodically interrupted by a first person account of a girl who's part of some creepy magic show. Those segments added a touch of intrigue but were also pretty cryptic. I was 80% through the book before I felt any real sense of suspense or creepiness start to build. I thought that the last quarter of the book was really very good -- finally I understood who Eve was, what her relationship with the Magician was, etc. I was impressed by some of the creeptastic detail and really wished more of that had been incorporated earlier in the story. I mean, whoa!!! Eve's a doll come to life, imbued with the magic of the serial killer victims? And the serial killer traps people in boxes, either before or after he cuts them up? THAT'S the book I was expecting to read. (I could have done without the trio of teens with superpowers, all of whom seemed to be planted in the story just so they could conveniently join forces in the final scene.) But more of the creepy girl-doll with Stockholm syndrome, please!!!!Readers who love WTF-is-going-on-here books like As I Wake by Elizabeth Scott or Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn will really enjoy this. And, I swear, if you persevere until the end, you will be rewarded.I've heard good things about this author, and was impressed enough with her writing and her offbeat imagination that I'd love to try another of her books and see if I can find one that suits me better.
