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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Good but long and dragged a bit. I almost gave up a few times.
I like the writing but it was so long and I just couldn't get engaged with the characters
Wow. Let me first say that while this book gets labeled within the mystery/thriller genre, I don’t know if that’s the most accurate. It feels too simplistic of a description for this book. Sure, a bad thing happens, a mystery is eventually solved, but the backbone of this book is on the stories of multiple people across generations and decades, and how we define and navigate the intricacies of family. This was my first book I’ve read of Kate Morton, and I really and truly enjoy her style. She writes with such care and description, of her characters, the setting, and everything, without being overly wordy. She really paints a picture with her narration, and leaves you with a satisfied, heartfelt story. I can’t wait to read more of hers.
I would have given this 4 stars but the start was incredibly slow and I kept getting distracted and had to go back and listen to the early chapters. Once the book hit the halfway mark, it hit its stride and I enjoyed it and the ending.
DNF after 60%
Way too long with very little interesting happening. After skimming the rest - I called whodunnit within the first 200 pages.
Way too long with very little interesting happening. After skimming the rest - I called whodunnit within the first 200 pages.
(About 80% done)
......It is a convention in many, many books to tell a story by jumping back and forth in time. This can be tiresome, as a time frame is always abandoned just when *something* is going to happen. A new time frame starts --and often has flashbacks of its own-- and by the time we return to the previous time frame I'VE FORGOTTEN the important bits. Then keep repeating this pattern. Oh and in all time frames there are hints at the exciting reveal.....
That's the first 'pet peeve' of mine about books: time jumps, but it is so common it's difficult to avoid. Another pet peeve is book-within-a-book, which this has. I don't care for it.
It is taking me f o r e v e r to get through this book and I have often thought of abandoning it. But no, I'm slogging through despite the pet-peeve-shortcomings, because I do need to know the answers: Did Isabelle poison her children or not? I guess baby Thea wasn't taken by wild dogs (since her grave was discovered). So who killed her?
......It is a convention in many, many books to tell a story by jumping back and forth in time. This can be tiresome, as a time frame is always abandoned just when *something* is going to happen. A new time frame starts --and often has flashbacks of its own-- and by the time we return to the previous time frame I'VE FORGOTTEN the important bits. Then keep repeating this pattern. Oh and in all time frames there are hints at the exciting reveal.....
That's the first 'pet peeve' of mine about books: time jumps, but it is so common it's difficult to avoid. Another pet peeve is book-within-a-book, which this has. I don't care for it.
It is taking me f o r e v e r to get through this book and I have often thought of abandoning it. But no, I'm slogging through despite the pet-peeve-shortcomings, because I do need to know the answers: Did Isabelle poison her children or not? I guess baby Thea wasn't taken by wild dogs (since her grave was discovered). So who killed her?
Book content warning that I wish someone had told me: this may not be the book for you if you suffer(ed) from postpartum depression!
Cons:
- While I enjoyed the story overall, it did drag on and on and on. I routinely read epic fantasy and this really tested my patience on multiple occasions. But then the resolution ended up super rushed, so pacing overall was a bit off for me.
- The frame story was quite lacking — I never at any point ended up caring that Jess had moved to London, had marital issues, or was on a journalism deadline.
- I found the book-within-a-book exposition to be very lazy.
- None of the characters were compelling.
- The ending was so incredibly obvious that I feel cheated having given the book so many pages to get there.
Pros:
- I love a good family dynamic/generational exploration story and this did deliver on that in a few ways.
- This is maybe the first story I’ve read set in Australia, so that was fun.
This is my first book by this author so maybe this is just the wrong book for me, or maybe the author and I don’t jive.
Cons:
- While I enjoyed the story overall, it did drag on and on and on. I routinely read epic fantasy and this really tested my patience on multiple occasions. But then the resolution ended up super rushed, so pacing overall was a bit off for me.
- The frame story was quite lacking — I never at any point ended up caring that Jess had moved to London, had marital issues, or was on a journalism deadline.
- I found the book-within-a-book exposition to be very lazy.
- None of the characters were compelling.
- The ending was so incredibly obvious that I feel cheated having given the book so many pages to get there.
Pros:
- I love a good family dynamic/generational exploration story and this did deliver on that in a few ways.
- This is maybe the first story I’ve read set in Australia, so that was fun.
This is my first book by this author so maybe this is just the wrong book for me, or maybe the author and I don’t jive.
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
I’ve never read a murder mystery before! This was a lot of fun to read. I won’t lie it took me a bit to get through it but that was my fault. I read it in between books of a series and I’ve been excited to get back to it. I really enjoyed the relationship between Jess and her mother Polly, it was very interesting to read as the story went on.
I’ll admit it took me a bit to get into this one but once I did, I couldn’t put it down. A rich multi layered tale of murder, Long buried family, secrets, and the things we do to keep those we live close. While one of the major plot twists was easily predictable a couple of the others left me slightly stunned. Would definitely recommend. In addition I listen to this on audiobook, andClair Foy is a wonderful narrator.