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honeyland's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Fun book, actually spooky at parts of you read it in the dark. Quite fast-paced. While I didn't see the plot twist coming, I was also not amazed by it tbh, but it was still fun.
sophieguillas's review
3.0
Repeat after me-
A five year old does not have the capacity to be prosecuted for murder
The fact that this was Maggie's parents unquestioned thought totally took me out of the conclusion and soured the rest of the story. I think fear of CFS would have made more sense, though it would have still needed to be supported and developed more. From what I saw, Petra's death seemed like an obvious accident and everyone's actions surrounding it were bizarre.
Other than this issue I enjoyed the book. The mystery is well crafted and the evidence and suspects mostly made sense leading up to the conclusion. I could forgive some one dimensional character beats, particularly from Maggie and her mother because the suspense was so consistent and exciting. My favourite part was seeing Maggie's doubts about her father's book and the evidence that contradicted it come up against the compelling nature of him writing and the spooky things that are still going on. It had an interesting perspective on the writing process.
A five year old does not have the capacity to be prosecuted for murder
The fact that this was Maggie's parents unquestioned thought totally took me out of the conclusion and soured the rest of the story. I think fear of CFS would have made more sense, though it would have still needed to be supported and developed more. From what I saw, Petra's death seemed like an obvious accident and everyone's actions surrounding it were bizarre.
Other than this issue I enjoyed the book. The mystery is well crafted and the evidence and suspects mostly made sense leading up to the conclusion. I could forgive some one dimensional character beats, particularly from Maggie and her mother because the suspense was so consistent and exciting. My favourite part was seeing Maggie's doubts about her father's book and the evidence that contradicted it come up against the compelling nature of him writing and the spooky things that are still going on. It had an interesting perspective on the writing process.
kdemido's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
sophiejwhite's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
sadie_lucier's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
aharke's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
rosaliethayer's review
3.0
I've started to wonder with this book if Riley Sager is capable of writing a book that has a liner timeframe when it comes to story. It's good, but I do wonder.