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alyssapusateri's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Abandonment
tmchopra's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Murder, and Abandonment
Minor: Addiction, Infidelity, Xenophobia, and Blood
hamohero's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
forrestalexander's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
I was so frustrated with this book, I considered giving it 0 stars.
With that being said, this character is very clearly coded to be autistic - despite the fact that the author never says this, it is obvious to any autistic folks or anyone who knows anything about autism spectrum disorder at all. She describes her various sensory issues, spends a great amount of the book talking about how she does not understand social situations in any capacity, she takes everything literally, she is a stickler for routine and does not stray away from the familiar, not being able to make small talk and being aware of this, etc.
As an autistic person, it was clear as day from the first few pages.
In addition, she has confirmed this in interviews, saying she used to work with high school kids with "very specialized needs" and implies that this was an inspiration for the character.
With that being said, it is an ignorant and harmful portrayal of an autistic person, rooted in stereotypes. Molly, as a character, feels both incredibly artificial and infantilized. She is an adult, lives on her own, pays rent, and is in all other senses of the world, completely independent. Being cut from a similar cloth and being a grown adult, I felt like the character was incredibly unrealistic - and this would be fine if the character didn't meet nearly all of the criteria for ASD. It feels like the author is attempting to shove every single autism stereotype into every chapter of the book, especially during the first half or so.
In reality, our lived experiences aren't like that. Through having to navigate a neurotypical world as autistic people, we often pick up on things like social cues and conversational context, even if we don't understand them. We also learn to "mask" our autism enough to present as neurotypical to the world - in fact, this has to be done oftentimes just to feel safe in certain situations. Molly would have, at least, picked up on enough through her decades of life to know when someone is probably not being literal. Toward the end of the book, she does start to pick up on this, even using a puzzle as an analogy of finally putting the pieces together and saying "I am learning to be less literal" when in reality, if she can understand this on her own now, she would have done this a long time ago. We don't get the luxury of being able to stay blissfully unaware of how our autism affects other people. From an early age, we are told how it inconveniences society (even if we have no idea we are autistic), and learn how to hide it so we inconvenience people less.
She is also told she is "such a special girl" by all of her coworkers and friends, and through most of the book she is infantilized, like a lot of neurotypical folks love to do, despite the fact that she is a grown adult.
Again, this character being written this way would be fine if the character didn't meet nearly all of the criteria for ASD and the author didn't imply she based her at least partially off of disabled children she used to teach - but she does, and she did. Despite the fact that this is a fictional character who is not specifically stated as being autistic, she is clearly written as such - and this is a real condition with a real community of real people who are already marginalized and discriminated against for the exact stereotypes she's basing this character off of. Doing this character and disabled folks justice would have been writing her correctly, stating her as autistic, and then making the points of people mistreating her clear, but none of this was done and the message is convoluted and lost in translation.
With that being said, this character is very clearly coded to be autistic - despite the fact that the author never says this, it is obvious to any autistic folks or anyone who knows anything about autism spectrum disorder at all. She describes her various sensory issues, spends a great amount of the book talking about how she does not understand social situations in any capacity, she takes everything literally, she is a stickler for routine and does not stray away from the familiar, not being able to make small talk and being aware of this, etc.
As an autistic person, it was clear as day from the first few pages.
In addition, she has confirmed this in interviews, saying she used to work with high school kids with "very specialized needs" and implies that this was an inspiration for the character.
With that being said, it is an ignorant and harmful portrayal of an autistic person, rooted in stereotypes. Molly, as a character, feels both incredibly artificial and infantilized. She is an adult, lives on her own, pays rent, and is in all other senses of the world, completely independent. Being cut from a similar cloth and being a grown adult, I felt like the character was incredibly unrealistic - and this would be fine if the character didn't meet nearly all of the criteria for ASD. It feels like the author is attempting to shove every single autism stereotype into every chapter of the book, especially during the first half or so.
In reality, our lived experiences aren't like that. Through having to navigate a neurotypical world as autistic people, we often pick up on things like social cues and conversational context, even if we don't understand them. We also learn to "mask" our autism enough to present as neurotypical to the world - in fact, this has to be done oftentimes just to feel safe in certain situations. Molly would have, at least, picked up on enough through her decades of life to know when someone is probably not being literal. Toward the end of the book, she does start to pick up on this, even using a puzzle as an analogy of finally putting the pieces together and saying "I am learning to be less literal" when in reality, if she can understand this on her own now, she would have done this a long time ago. We don't get the luxury of being able to stay blissfully unaware of how our autism affects other people. From an early age, we are told how it inconveniences society (even if we have no idea we are autistic), and learn how to hide it so we inconvenience people less.
She is also told she is "such a special girl" by all of her coworkers and friends, and through most of the book she is infantilized, like a lot of neurotypical folks love to do, despite the fact that she is a grown adult.
Again, this character being written this way would be fine if the character didn't meet nearly all of the criteria for ASD and the author didn't imply she based her at least partially off of disabled children she used to teach - but she does, and she did. Despite the fact that this is a fictional character who is not specifically stated as being autistic, she is clearly written as such - and this is a real condition with a real community of real people who are already marginalized and discriminated against for the exact stereotypes she's basing this character off of. Doing this character and disabled folks justice would have been writing her correctly, stating her as autistic, and then making the points of people mistreating her clear, but none of this was done and the message is convoluted and lost in translation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Grief
hinkleh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse
coversofceilidh's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse
genny's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Simple cozy mystery with an endearing protagonist & supporting cast. I recommend the audiobook, the narrator's voice is lovely. However, Molly seems to be written inconsistently. At times she has trouble understanding obvious social cues, but at other times she's very perceptive and can see through people's lies...this shifts depending on how convenient it is for her to understand things for the plot. There's nothing particularly surprising about the actual mystery except the very last reveal, which I'm not even sure how to feel about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, Terminal illness, and Grief
Minor: Domestic abuse
dcong16's review against another edition
sad
slow-paced
1.0
The concept was so interesting but for a mystery I saw major components of the ending coming a mile away. Maybe not the twist in the epilogue but then that pissed me off because it came so out of left field and felt like it had no precedent in the rest of the story. Seems kind of counterintuitive to say some things were too obvious and others were obvious enough but the way things all work out has to have some clues somewhere and I guess there were a few TEENY TINY crumbs that might lead to the final reveal but it just wasn’t enough to be believable especially when everything else was so obvious. Also yes I knew this was a murder mystery but I wish I would have had a trigger warning for some of the death/dying elements related to her grandmother which I was not at all adequately prepared for.
Only thing giving it one star and not zero is the characters, but then the ending even sort of ruined Molly for me? Like it didn’t fit with how she’d behaved / acted the whole rest of the book???? The others were annoyingly surface level when they had potential to be so interesting, but I think that was part of getting to know them from Molly’s perspective, so I was willing to overlook it. On that note, I’m curious how this depiction of Molly’s experience was in terms of accuracy / sensitivity.
While we never get an actual name for it, I think the author’s intentions are fairly clear in depicting a character on the Autism spectrum. I have mixed feelings about that. Why make the reader read between the lines about that? Why not just say it? Why have there be no diagnosis? I don’t have the personal experience to judge whether this was or was not a faithful depiction of ASD, but the fact that it’s so heavily alluded to despite never being named strikes me as a little… shady I guess?? Like the author wanted to write the character that way but didn’t want the potential to be called out. I genuinely can’t see any reason why naming it would make a difference to the story, since Molly states, herself, on many occasions, that she knows she’s different and experiences the world differently and therefor has trouble understanding social situations that are easy for others. Having a name and a diagnosis for that difference wouldn’t really make a difference to the plot. I don’t know maybe I’m just conspiracy theorizing at this point. Regardless, I’d love to know what people with ASD or more personal experience with it than me think of Molly’s characterization. I hope it’s a faithful depiction because I think people deserve that, I’m just not very trusting when it comes to these things.
Only thing giving it one star and not zero is the characters, but then the ending even sort of ruined Molly for me? Like it didn’t fit with how she’d behaved / acted the whole rest of the book???? The others were annoyingly surface level when they had potential to be so interesting, but I think that was part of getting to know them from Molly’s perspective, so I was willing to overlook it. On that note, I’m curious how this depiction of Molly’s experience was in terms of accuracy / sensitivity.
While we never get an actual name for it, I think the author’s intentions are fairly clear in depicting a character on the Autism spectrum. I have mixed feelings about that. Why make the reader read between the lines about that? Why not just say it? Why have there be no diagnosis? I don’t have the personal experience to judge whether this was or was not a faithful depiction of ASD, but the fact that it’s so heavily alluded to despite never being named strikes me as a little… shady I guess?? Like the author wanted to write the character that way but didn’t want the potential to be called out. I genuinely can’t see any reason why naming it would make a difference to the story, since Molly states, herself, on many occasions, that she knows she’s different and experiences the world differently and therefor has trouble understanding social situations that are easy for others. Having a name and a diagnosis for that difference wouldn’t really make a difference to the plot. I don’t know maybe I’m just conspiracy theorizing at this point. Regardless, I’d love to know what people with ASD or more personal experience with it than me think of Molly’s characterization. I hope it’s a faithful depiction because I think people deserve that, I’m just not very trusting when it comes to these things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Death of parent
Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use
shadereads's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I'm not an avid mystery reader, so I'll refrain on commenting too much on the plot, only that I thought that some parts dragged and weren't particularly interesting, and maybe that the villain was too obvious? It didn't make for much intrigue in a murder mystery.
The atmosphere was also a bit lacking. I was reading, but not picturing the scenes very well. I also had a hard time placing the setting. At first it seemed like it was set in England, due to how the characters spoke, but through the course of the story, I believe it's supposed to be some nebulous city in the US. It just would have been nice to have a clear idea.
My bigger gripes are with the characters, especially our lead, Molly the maid. She seems to have been written to be on the autism spectrum, and that was the part I was most excited about as I am also autistic. Unfortunately, it didn't land right personally. Autism is a spectrum and all autistic people are different, but Molly felt a bit too exaggerated, and it's never explicitly stated in the text that she is autistic, even though the setting is modern. She was written to be very naive, in my opinion, and oblivious to too much. She's supposed to be 25, with a whole life of masking behind her, but she never exhibited those skills. Neither did she seem to stim, nor did she have shutdowns or meltdowns when things got too much (and there were moments that should have done that to her). Instead she 'faints'. I don't know, it just feels like ASD wasn't fully researched. I also just didn't understand her reasoning for some of her actions. They barely made any sense to me, and annoyed me, especially at the end.
The ending probably brought the story down even more for me. It was annoying and revealed information we should have known in the story, not after it had wrapped up.
The atmosphere was also a bit lacking. I was reading, but not picturing the scenes very well. I also had a hard time placing the setting. At first it seemed like it was set in England, due to how the characters spoke, but through the course of the story, I believe it's supposed to be some nebulous city in the US. It just would have been nice to have a clear idea.
My bigger gripes are with the characters, especially our lead, Molly the maid. She seems to have been written to be on the autism spectrum, and that was the part I was most excited about as I am also autistic. Unfortunately, it didn't land right personally. Autism is a spectrum and all autistic people are different, but Molly felt a bit too exaggerated, and it's never explicitly stated in the text that she is autistic, even though the setting is modern. She was written to be very naive, in my opinion, and oblivious to too much. She's supposed to be 25, with a whole life of masking behind her, but she never exhibited those skills. Neither did she seem to stim, nor did she have shutdowns or meltdowns when things got too much (and there were moments that should have done that to her). Instead she 'faints'. I don't know, it just feels like ASD wasn't fully researched. I also just didn't understand her reasoning for some of her actions. They barely made any sense to me, and annoyed me, especially at the end.
The ending probably brought the story down even more for me. It was annoying and revealed information we should have known in the story, not after it had wrapped up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness
Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, and Alcohol
Contains euthanasia of a terminally ill caretaker.burnourhistory's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Terminal illness