Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

201 reviews

val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

More than 500 books in my TBR and I bet not even 15 are thriller, but this was one of the few exceptions and I found it available in Libby and felt like giving it a try!

I’m glad to report that it did not disappoint. It was a 3.5 ⭐ for me!

I can see why people could find this boring but I was so intrigued and I understood the character so much that I finished this so quickly, it was entertaining for me.

The husband deserved soooooo much worse than what he got 💀

At least the women ended up thriving and living in peace away from him so I was happy with that ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death, Blood, Pregnancy, and Murder

- Abortion:

Evelyn

had an abortion years ago and is briefly mentioned how she went to a clinic and had to recover physically after, not much mentally because she was sure of her decision.

- Pregnancy: We find out about this very early on but

Martine

is pregnant.

- Blood: Because of the murder, and

Martine

bleeds a during pregnancy.

- Death / Murder: There’s someone killed in the beginning, and then we discover there’s way more bodies on that backyard.

sjeast17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

fujo_cat's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Full review: https://fujoreads.tumblr.com/post/751380744419573760/the-echo-wife-by-sarah-gailey-review 

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read after a reading slump. The audiobook was especially nice to listen to, with the whole pacing and personality to the narrator’s voice.

I wasn’t expecting to become friendly with who I thought at first to be one of the main antagonists, and I certainly wasn’t expecting such character development from our MC. All done and said, this was a great read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Abortion and Sexism

Minor: Domestic abuse and Sexual violence

eachz's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I really struggled on and off with finishing this book but ultimately I landed on the side of liking it. A lot of the things that bothered me or seemed confusing early on made a bit more sense when all the pieces started to click together in the end. It was hard at times to get through the first ~half but I think the author ultimately did a good job of exploring the themes they were aiming to explore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Death, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Medical content

Moderate: Blood, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Murder

christene_littlelibrary's review

dark emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Blood, Infidelity, Murder, Death, and Pregnancy

loftyace's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse

thewileyseven's review

dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Brutal and uncompromising and excellent. Are there some holes in it? Completely. Is that the point? Not even a little. Wow. I am awed and shaken by this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Murder, and Domestic abuse

morag's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is a bit of an acquired taste, and I'm not sure that I acquired it by the end. If you love reading books with horrible main characters you are meant to hate, you'll love this. If not, this is going to be upsetting from start to finish.

I do think this book is relatively successful at what it sets out to do. It explores cycles of abuse, misogyny (both external and internal), and, obviously, the ethics of cloning. Martine's storyline really pulled me in, and every revelation about what her life was like got me more and more invested. The place she ended up in by the end still sticks with me. I wanted to pry the book open, pull her out of it, and weld the door shut after her. That speaks volumes for the effectiveness of Gailey's writing. 

That being said, the main character, Evelyn, is written as a cold, uncaring asshole, and that is done so effectively that it makes the novel hard to read. If you need your main characters to be even remotely likable or empathetic, you will not like this one. I do understand that Evelyn is intended to be this way, but on a personal level, it was just too much. I couldn't stomach a second read of this.

Overall, this is a brutal examination of misogyny, abuse, and personhood. It won't be for everyone, but if you're ready for a tough read, it'll deliver.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Child abuse

Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, and Medical trauma

socialpsysteph's review

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Sarah Gailey has become an insta-buy author for me. I love her writing style and find her stories intriguing with the perfect touch of weirdness. When I saw this sitting on the shelf at The Book Rack, I knew I had to get it; A scientist who perfects cloning technology only to have her husband have an affair with a more obedient clone of herself? Yes, please! Basically, every character was disliked but it didn't matter, it was like a trainwreck that I couldn't look away from. There were some deeper themes here around domestic violence, abuse, and grooming, so be aware of that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Murder

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Pregnancy

c100's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy and Blood