Reviews

Another book outside of my normal book comfort zone. This book had less thriller vibes than I thought it would going in, but I still very much enjoyed it. I was utterly sucked in by Moriarty’s writing of character. The book moved at a slower pace, but with every chapter of changing perspectives the puzzle started to click into place for a satisfying end. At the heart of it all this story is about people. This story is about strangers. It’s about mothers and those that choose not to be so. It’s about aging out of your prime and aging into it. It’s about navigating grief of losing a loved one, divorce, a career, a dream, etc. It’s about life. The lives of these nine perfect strangers will stay with me for a long time, maybe because they don’t feel like strangers at all.

elkyo's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful fast-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

3.75

kebernatzky's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.25

l_kendall's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.0

lisaaldag's review

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dark funny mysterious fast-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? No

4.0

jhutch1324's review against another edition

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5.0

I've read a few of Moriarty's books and so far have enjoyed them all. This one is my favorite though, which used to be Big Little Lies.

This has been on my tbr list for a while and it's been on my bookshelf for a little bit too but Ive been reading mostly BOTM books lately. I started to watch the Hulu version of this and decided I wanted to read the book first so I grabbed it for a road trip we were taking this past weekend. We are on our way home and I am happy that I chose this book as my entertainment!! I think I would actually even reread this one too which says a lot, I have a ton of books but I only reread the ones I love!

The story centers around a core group of people, some visitors to a health retreat and some employees of said health retreat. We learn about why each person / group are there but not necessarily what they hope to achieve in their time at the retreat. These motives become clear later and you can easily find reasons to sympathize with each and every character. As usual with her novels, somewhere around 60% in all hell breaks loose and it's a free fall through the rest of the book. Super engaging and I always race through her work, but I finished this one especially fast. The ending is satisfying without being gimiky everything tied up with a bow, another thing I love about this author. We want to feel happy when we end the book but not too unrealistically happy, that's fake and not my cup of tea. {As a character I ❤️ Frances but I don't think her books would interest me too much}

So, as I said I can definitely see myself rereading this so that's about the highest praise you can get from me!

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