Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Chateau

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

dev921's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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maddyhammer's review

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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rileejsmith's review

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I love me a good French-chateau set book, so the setting of The Chateau is what initially hooked me - and was one of my favorite “characters” in the end. As for the actual characters themselves, it was hard to root for anyone, as they all had massive flaws. But that being said, I liked the multi-POV that kept you guessing which one of them actually committed the crime. It was a bit of a slow burn and there were a lot of dominating all-over-the-place plot points that were a bit overwhelming when running concurrently (

a hidden van gogh? a famous restaurant influencer? getting a duchess pregnant? an infertility charity? a famous spin class owner? the holocaust? all in one book? yep!

. But about 2/3 in it seemed to hook me and I wanted to know who did it! Overall it was a fun read for what it was and a fun “who done it” modern thriller with some social media plot points!

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katieb1034's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This is a pretty good suspense murder mystery that keeps you engaged and surprised, but there are some problems with it stylistically. For instance, all the perspectives of the characters are told in first-person, alternating chapter by chapter, which is confusing when you find out who the murderer is. In order to conceal their identity, the writer had to conceal any sort of sociopathic impulses in their internal monologues, as well, which leads to some inconsistencies.

For instance, why was Arabelle so concerned with defending Darcy when Oliver said she always takes photos? She's supposed to viscerally hate her so much she wants her dead, it doesn't make any sense.

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beckyremillard's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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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miranda_graham's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

A murder mystery, where a group of friends reminisce about their past excursions in France at this same location? I’m interested!

The good
-I think the author did a good job keeping me guessing about who did what
-Our characters were fairly well-written
-One of my favorite story-telling elements was present, where the author utilized changing perspectives as a way to provide introspection, thoughts, and a flawed perspective of events
-LOVED our narrators! Excellent for an audiobook.

The less good
-I think some background from Jade’s character was jarring and didn’t flow well with the rest of the story.

Could we have involved her motives earlier on in the book so her revelations/thoughts are seen as a piece to the puzzle? Ex: could we have had a chapter about the Holocaust or antisemitism aside from Jade’s inner thoughts and rants about what happened to her son at school? Or even have her rant about it to a person rather than think through this monologue to the reader?

-Our killer’s true motives and thoughts were so…I don’t know, mid? It just didn’t feel realistic or like a good enough motive for me. I would have preferred if

Arabelle was trying to get revenge for her grandmother or something related to her true parentage, or maybe she discovers the truth regarding Seraphine and the Holocaust in Jade’s revelation, giving hurler further fuel to think her parentage was covered up by both her and her deceased husband.

It just felt a bit forced.

On the whole, a good mystery novel!

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arthur_pendrgn's review

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slow-paced

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

2.25

Trauma as character development. Way too much going on that clutters up the plot: cancer (2 characters), infidelity (2 of these), break ups, domestic abuse, multigenerational rape, Holocaust trauma, lesbianism (1 hidden), unhappy marriages (at least 4), a missing masterpiece, infertility issues, jealousy, sociopathy, betrayal, murders (2), assault, a custody fight, a potential romance, 2 side mysteries that don't matter, 2 children-as-plot-props, gun & knife violence, and an improbable rescue. That doesn't include the 4 narrators who, sadly, have indistinguishable voices.

Underneath all of that are the bones of a tried-but-true plot. If only the plot had been trimmed down so we could actually focus on a murdered grandmother with a lot of money at stake. Goldis left no time for the reader to connect with anyone. (Honestly, the murderous couple in the last chapter would have been enough rationale.)

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jaimbee's review

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mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.0

I was intrigued by the synopsis and some summaries I saw on TikTok but was deeply disappointed. What I thought would be a suspenseful locked room murder mystery was slow paced with no sense of danger. The skeletons crawled out of the closet like slugs, the “present danger” occurred far too late into the novel. I felt I was forcing myself to finish rather than ripping through the pages as fast as I could.

Since I also listened to this book on Audible, I feel it’s worth mentioning that the attempted accents were horrible and inconsistent and made this tough read even more difficult to get through.

If you’re looking for a (weak) character-driven story, with no thrills in sight, you could probably still find a better one than The Chateau.

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