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symabee's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I should start by saying that thriller is not my preferred genre, but I do enjoy them every now and then. However this book had no redeeming qualities for me.
The main character Sophie is a mid thirties woman with a loving, handsome husband and a son. After she suggests they move their family from Chicago to rural Texas, her husband happily finds a new job there so she can live out her dream of being a crunchy stay at home mom blogger. Despite being given everything she wants, she grows bored with her life for some reason. Then she randomly becomes obsessed with local socialite Margot after seeing one tagged photo of her on Facebook. Sophie manages to find a way into Margot's inner circle of rich, late 30s "friends" whom have a secret shooting club. In addition to shooting skeet, they also drink excessively, and cheat on their husbands just because. Margot is also known to sleep with high school boys, including her best friend's son 𤎠I think the worst part about this gross storyline is that all the women just turn a blind eye and don't seem to have an issue with it. Even after Sophie learns about Margot sleeping with teenagers, she just brushes it aside and continues to follow her stupid infatuation. They make a point to say several times that the boys are 18 and the age of consent is 17 in Texas, as if that excuses it?? The whole thing gave me the ick. Sophie is such a vapid character who is so desperate for attention and validation from these terrible women that she's willing to risk destroying her perfect family for it, for literally no reason other than boredom. Don't get me wrong, I love a morally grey/unreliable main characters, but Sophie was just plain stupid (she was drugged by them multiple times but continued to hang out with them anywayđ¤) and never really wises up or redeems herself. The murder mystery of it all wasn't even exciting or shocking. The writing was also bland and repetitive (be prepared to read about Sophie drinking lattes, working in the garden, and cooking food A LOT). I'm genuinely mad I spent money on this book đ
The main character Sophie is a mid thirties woman with a loving, handsome husband and a son. After she suggests they move their family from Chicago to rural Texas, her husband happily finds a new job there so she can live out her dream of being a crunchy stay at home mom blogger. Despite being given everything she wants, she grows bored with her life for some reason. Then she randomly becomes obsessed with local socialite Margot after seeing one tagged photo of her on Facebook. Sophie manages to find a way into Margot's inner circle of rich, late 30s "friends" whom have a secret shooting club. In addition to shooting skeet, they also drink excessively, and cheat on their husbands just because. Margot is also known to sleep with high school boys, including her best friend's son 𤎠I think the worst part about this gross storyline is that all the women just turn a blind eye and don't seem to have an issue with it. Even after Sophie learns about Margot sleeping with teenagers, she just brushes it aside and continues to follow her stupid infatuation. They make a point to say several times that the boys are 18 and the age of consent is 17 in Texas, as if that excuses it?? The whole thing gave me the ick. Sophie is such a vapid character who is so desperate for attention and validation from these terrible women that she's willing to risk destroying her perfect family for it, for literally no reason other than boredom. Don't get me wrong, I love a morally grey/unreliable main characters, but Sophie was just plain stupid (she was drugged by them multiple times but continued to hang out with them anywayđ¤) and never really wises up or redeems herself. The murder mystery of it all wasn't even exciting or shocking. The writing was also bland and repetitive (be prepared to read about Sophie drinking lattes, working in the garden, and cooking food A LOT). I'm genuinely mad I spent money on this book đ
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual content and Rape
Minor: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Abortion
mynameisrebecca's review
adventurous
dark
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
3.5
For a book that's pretty cliche and predictable, I had a great time reading The Hunting Wives. I could see the twists and turns from a mile away, since many of them relied on typical tropes... but I couldn't put this book down! It has a great pacing and captures the heart-rushing adrenaline of paranoia extremely well. Cobb's writing style overdescribes settings and small details in such a smart way that really brings to life the obsessions and fixations of Sophie's mind. It made for a very visual book that I could easily see in my head as I was reading. Given the hunting "wives" title, I hoped for more development on all of the wives, but that didn't happen. It was hard at times to remember who was who when they showed up since they weren't that distinct. I could have done without Margot and Brad. Cobb could have easily aged up Brad and Jamie to 21 or 22 and still had the same essence without the creepy grooming and taboo vibe
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion, Gun violence, Pregnancy, and Murder
sandrakruse's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Wow, this was really disturbing. In a BAD way. If Cobb had written this about male characters banging female teens and drinking like this⌠hahahaha. Oh wow. Disgusting, really, the whole âbanging seventeen year old boys when iâm fortyâ-thing. As a vocational school teacher myself, i canât believe people sing this books praises.
Also, Sophie is so stupid it hurts my goddamn head. And âalso #2â, why play in to this âbisexual people are so much more likely to cheat and/or be âbrokenâ personsâ. Like seriously, why?
BAD book.
Also, Sophie is so stupid it hurts my goddamn head. And âalso #2â, why play in to this âbisexual people are so much more likely to cheat and/or be âbrokenâ personsâ. Like seriously, why?
BAD book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Gun violence
Donât read it, man.librariangeorgia's review
adventurous
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
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Abortion
ashleynewman's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Abortion, Death, and Pregnancy
mondovertigo's review
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Gun violence
annabeavo's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
finding_time_to_read's review
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Infidelity, and Gun violence
major_tom's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book becomes what it promises to be only half way through. Before that, we get endless pages of way-too-detailed Facebook surfing and coffee making (oh, and drinking! SO.MUCH.DRINKING). I mean, different types of coffee and process surrounding making it could indicate thought process and emotional state of the character, if it wasnât explicitly described on the following page. While we do get a good character description of main character as well as others, it seems to me that we could have gotten so much more given how many pages were dedicated to description (rather than any action).
The first half made me think Iâm reading erotic smut but without the good stuff. Itâs such a weird way to write out a story, I donât really get.
I mean, adultery is wrong, but itâs presented as such a scandalous and unexpected turn of events that itâs even funny. You do describe the cast as people who would DEFINITELY have an affair, but then expect us to be in any way involved in this? I got bored waiting for it, honestly. And it wasnât even that interesting, just drunk ladies doing drunk things.
And a white woman who doesnât believe she may be bi? Has a blog writing about Asian herbs and knowing nothing about them but that they âkeep your blood pressure downâ? Is the most descriptive example of teenage hormones? Please stop. A character may be unlovable, but donât make feeling horny their whole personality, please. Itâs just lazy writing.
I believe the book could have been twice as short and wouldnât lose anything. While I did like the style, it was just so pretentiously lengthened: this space could have been used to make the community more interesting, with secrets and drama. Rather than that rich village with several bored to death housewives.
Overall, I will not recommend this book. It has some good parts, but overall itâs too long for itâs own good, as if youâre reading a film script. I wanted to like it, I was intrigued by the premise, but itâs disappointing.
The first half made me think Iâm reading erotic smut but without the good stuff. Itâs such a weird way to write out a story, I donât really get.
And a white woman who doesnât believe she may be bi? Has a blog writing about Asian herbs and knowing nothing about them but that they âkeep your blood pressure downâ? Is the most descriptive example of teenage hormones? Please stop. A character may be unlovable, but donât make feeling horny their whole personality, please. Itâs just lazy writing.
I believe the book could have been twice as short and wouldnât lose anything. While I did like the style, it was just so pretentiously lengthened: this space could have been used to make the community more interesting, with secrets and drama. Rather than that rich village with several bored to death housewives.
Overall, I will not recommend this book. It has some good parts, but overall itâs too long for itâs own good, as if youâre reading a film script. I wanted to like it, I was intrigued by the premise, but itâs disappointing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Alcohol, and Sexual content
Moderate: Murder, Rape, Gun violence, and Drug use
Minor: Pregnancy, Abortion, and Suicidal thoughts
lorinew1's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Bullying