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Murder by the Sea: True Crime Stories from our Sinister Shores by Robin Jarossi, David Howard
kazza27's review
Thank you to Tracy for the invitation to Random Things Tours and to Simon and Schuster for the copy of the book in return for a fair and honest review.
Emily is married to Nick with twins and they both went to Cambridge University, Emily studied Law and was heading for a great career, but something bad happened that she has never forgotten. Back then she was part of a group of friends, Lyla, Will and Henry, they head off to Italy one summer and Henry and Emily become an item. The story begins as Emily and Nick are about to attend a reunion at the university, the first time Emily has seen these people since she finished her studies.
From the outset there is a palpable tension in this story, which rises page by page. Emily and her sister Helen have always been close and what happened to Emily brought them even closer. Emily has never told Nick the details of what happened to her but it is all about to come out. As the story uncovers the reader gets to know the story behind the characters and Lyla, Will and Henry are all self entitled and unlikeable people. I liked the switching of the story between now, with a countdown and then as we relive what happened. I thought I knew where the book was going but I was surprised time and time again. This is a perfect summery read, full of revenge and retribution. I devoured it, it is fast paced and has plenty of drama, and a friends group that you would really do well to steer clear of !
5 stars *****
Emily is married to Nick with twins and they both went to Cambridge University, Emily studied Law and was heading for a great career, but something bad happened that she has never forgotten. Back then she was part of a group of friends, Lyla, Will and Henry, they head off to Italy one summer and Henry and Emily become an item. The story begins as Emily and Nick are about to attend a reunion at the university, the first time Emily has seen these people since she finished her studies.
From the outset there is a palpable tension in this story, which rises page by page. Emily and her sister Helen have always been close and what happened to Emily brought them even closer. Emily has never told Nick the details of what happened to her but it is all about to come out. As the story uncovers the reader gets to know the story behind the characters and Lyla, Will and Henry are all self entitled and unlikeable people. I liked the switching of the story between now, with a countdown and then as we relive what happened. I thought I knew where the book was going but I was surprised time and time again. This is a perfect summery read, full of revenge and retribution. I devoured it, it is fast paced and has plenty of drama, and a friends group that you would really do well to steer clear of !
5 stars *****
angelfireeast24's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Murder, Addiction, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide, Alcoholism, and Infidelity
rosemaryandrue's review
dark
informative
medium-paced
3.5
Based on the CBS reality show Murder By the Sea, ten murders that took place in various seaside towns and resorts of Britain are recounted in this book.
I like true crime, but my medium of choice is podcasts – I very rarely watch it on TV. As such, I have never heard of this show, but the central theme of murder informed by location was one that sounded interesting to me. That the chapters had been derived from episodes of a show was evident from their structure, but this did not detract from the writing in any way.
I liked the book covered lesser known murders, as I had not heard of any of these cases before. The authors made sure to include variety in the chosen cases, whether it was the location, the motive, or the personality of the murderer. I also appreciated that they made sure to give voice to those who had been close to the victims, to make sure that their side was told.
However, I felt that the book sometimes came short of hitting the mark with the central idea. All the stories take place in seaside communities, but where the murders took place did not always have much impact on the cases. Sometimes, I didn’t even get a real sense of the place. As this was the selling point of the book, I wondered if the authors could have picked cases which better demonstrated this central theme.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Domestic abuse
annarella's review
4.0
It was an interesting series of true crime stories set in Uk by the seaside. I never saw the tv series but I liked the storytelling and the story were gripping.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
13rebecca13's review
challenging
dark
fast-paced
5.0
I am fascinated by true crime and always have been but mostly the forensic and psychological side of it.
Murder By The Sea is made up of ten chapters, each a story about a murder that happened in a seaside town. Some of these in more recent days and some dating back to the 1950s.
It reads exactly like a documentary (this book is taken from one such documentary of the same name) with information on the towns, backgrounds to both victims and killers and quotes from the officers and doctors who worked on the cases. I did not want to put this down and surprisingly I'd only heard of one case. Another case though, I think will stay with me forever. Mathew Hardman, that's all I will say. Wow.
I found myself wanting to know more whilst reading and did have an extra little Google at some stories.
If you are a true crime fan, this is for you.
Murder By The Sea is made up of ten chapters, each a story about a murder that happened in a seaside town. Some of these in more recent days and some dating back to the 1950s.
It reads exactly like a documentary (this book is taken from one such documentary of the same name) with information on the towns, backgrounds to both victims and killers and quotes from the officers and doctors who worked on the cases. I did not want to put this down and surprisingly I'd only heard of one case. Another case though, I think will stay with me forever. Mathew Hardman, that's all I will say. Wow.
I found myself wanting to know more whilst reading and did have an extra little Google at some stories.
If you are a true crime fan, this is for you.
tysuckz's review
adventurous
dark
sad
fast-paced
4.0
I mean there isn't much to say about it really. Interesting in that there are so many cases! But not too spectacular because it is literally just cases of murder, which is just a very matter of fact thing.
I enjoyed it a lot, nothing was particularly off-putting about the way it was written and I did like that all cases were unheard to me, and I imagine a lot were unheard to the majority of people! Interesting read.
I enjoyed it a lot, nothing was particularly off-putting about the way it was written and I did like that all cases were unheard to me, and I imagine a lot were unheard to the majority of people! Interesting read.
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