Why I picked it up 
 Literally judged a book by its cover. Saw a copy laying out in a bookstore in Atlanta this summer. Read the introduction by Jonathan Lethem. Remembered liking The Lottery. Put it on my To Read list. 
 What I liked 
 + Merricat is one of the most interesting and unhinged narrators I've ever met. I feel gleefully unsettled having met her. 
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 + The slow, gradual burn--the pace at which we're shown who is damaged and how much--was just really satisfying. 
 + Uncle Julian's single-minded preoccupation with the day in question is possibly the most tragic thing in the story in light of how he has blocked Merricat from his mind, and will therefore never solve the mystery. 
 + The villagers saving the house from burning just so they could tear it down was sadly, cruelly, recognizably human. 
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 Who I'd recommend it to 
 Oh, pretty much everybody who likes to read books.