Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater

60 reviews

itsbumley's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Gaslighting, Addiction, Alcoholism, Stalking, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, and Vomit

spacedout_reader's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I thought the writing was good and the characterization was superb, every one felt like a real, flawed individual. However, for me the story was ultimately not that satisfying, and it felt like it left a lot of loose ends.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Murder

libreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Stalking, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit and Suicide

sierraclimbs's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I don’t have a ton of feelings about this book upon reflection. 
I enjoyed reading it & I think it is an interesting commentary on true crime & the culture that surrounds it. 
I’m excited to discuss it with my bookclub because I think it will bring up a lot of interesting conversations. 
The thing I found the most interesting is maybe a bit of a spoiler but,

I found it interesting that if you isolate Laura’s perspective from Roach’s, it never seems like Roach is doing anything that sinister… if it was just a book about Laura, you would think she is an unreliable narrator

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Moderate: Blood, Gaslighting, Stalking, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Vomit

This book is meant to make you uncomfortable. I wouldn’t say it glorifies anything, at least not without contradicting it in the next chapter.

elgin's review

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Addiction

Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Dysphoria, and Bullying

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Violence, Excrement, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Vomit, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Blood, Murder, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Mental illness

eleeowart's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

As a reformed true crime fan, this novel was a bit on the nose. Roach bothered the shit out of me, while Laura was a perfect foil that still bothered me. All in all, I tore through this book though. Through all the gross details that had me shaking my head, I’m glad it ended the way it did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcoholism, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, Gore, Stalking, and Death

laurenvoice's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Death of a Bookseller was a captivating, yet disturbing read!

The main characters, Roach and Laura, were well-written. They were so well written that somehow it became easy to feel sorry for Roach and have a strong dislike towards Laura.

Despite the feeling Roach was meant to be the "bad guy" in this story, it was hard to ignore Laura's toxic behaviour and no one ever holding her to account due to her past trauma; what happened was unthinkable, but it shouldn't give her a free pass to be a bully.

That said, Roach was very much on the creepy side; she's the female version of Joe Goldberg. It would have been interesting to get more insight into why Roach was the obsessive type and why she tried to mimic the image of other people rather than her own. Although it was easy to feel sorry for Roach, it did not excuse her behaviour and what she put Laura through.

Surprisingly, it felt fitting that Death of a Bookseller ended on a cliffhanger. Usually, a cliffhanger with no signs of a sequel is quite irritating, but for this story, it felt right. Death of a Bookseller had that constant dread and unease feeling; it only felt right that the story would end with the same feeling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Bullying, and Grief

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, and Blood

wowsmeows's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.5

"Reading is a way of life for some customers, the
kind of customers who buy more than they read, who behave as though 'bookworm' is as inherent as their blood type or their astrological sign."

Death of a Bookseller is about two characters told through their alternating POVs. There's Roach, a creepy true crime fanatic and Laura, who is unhealthily dealing with her traumatic past. The pair work together in a bookshop are are both unlikeable in their own unique ways. The book explores the idea of hating someone so much that it turns into an obsession and morphs into stalking.  As the title suggests, it does delve into a lot of morbid topics with a lot of grotesque language and descriptions throughout. I'd recommend checking out content warnings for this read. However, it is a very slow read and because we have the split POV, I dont think I would personally class it as mystery or a thriller novel as we know what both characters are doing and thinking at all times. 

What I I did enjoy was that it had some interesting ideas around the ethics of true crime as a genre. It really made me think about how healthy it really is to consume true crime content. I also thought the book was well written and I thought both characters had distinct personalities that shone through in the text. 

I will say that I did dislike the ending and I did feel a bit frustrated by it.

I felt that the story had already been wrapped up nicely with Laura finally escaping Roach and dealing with her past, but Roach's epilogue took it all away from her again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Vomit, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Violence, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, and Gore

lottieingham's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Stalking, Vomit, Death of parent, Grief, Death, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

beth_s98's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Honestly, this book wasn’t for me, and I only finished it partially out of spite. I hated Roach,

and while I think that’s kind of the point, I struggled to get through her chapters.

I liked Lauren, and a lot of the other characters were interesting.

I hate in the end that Lauren doesn’t get true peace, and we are left with Roach walking back into her life.

There were just so many moments that I felt were either unnecessary or just beyond plausibility. I don’t think the writing was bad, but I was not a fan of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol, Death of parent, Stalking, Sexual content, Violence, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Mass/school shootings