First of all, the late 50’s era is extremely well conveyed with the racism towards Ruby toe curling well depicted, she’s powerless and has to be subservient and is certainly exploited. The white wealthy Sunnylake is colourfully captured in all it’s arrogant male superiority. The men at work and women in the kitchen is clearly apparent and is an excellent exploration of 50’s attitudes. Joyce’s numb perspective is very illuminating as to keep her submissive she’s drugged up to the eyeballs to ensure her compliance and it’s clear she is unraveling. Sunnylake looks like a wonderful place to live with it’s big houses and manicured lawns but it’s a pretence, it’s fantasy la-la land with so many secrets it’s a wonder it doesn’t combust. The whole area feels off from the start as does the crime scene and some characters behaviour. The characters are good especially Ruby, she’s amazing, strong, clever and doggedly determined and I like the growing respect for her from Detective Blanke. The tension and intrigue builds well and intensifies like the LA heat and there are some shockingly disturbing discoveries and revelations. However, I think the ending let’s a really good story down as it feels a bit farcical and made the police look like Keystone Cops and so doesn’t entirely work for me.