You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

4.87k reviews for:

Murder in the Family

Cara Hunter

3.8 AVERAGE

michaeltedone's review

5.0

The twistiest of twists! I will be thinking about this book for a while!
deziraygouw's profile picture

deziraygouw's review

4.0

4.25 stars

Everyone is suspicious in their own way. It's hard for me to concentrate in the first couple of chapters because of the format (I think), but then it did actually keep me on my toes.

(Also Nick is a pos)

Grundsätzlich bin ich dem Mixed Media-Format in Büchern ja sehr zugetan, z. B. in den "Illuminae Files" von Amie Kaufman und Jay Kristoff, den "Themis Files" von Sylvain Neuvel oder "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" von Holly Jackson, aber in "Murder in the Family" von Cara Hunter hat es für mich einfach nicht funktioniert. Denn trotz des Formates war das Buch überhaupt nicht abwechslungsreich und bestand zu 90% aus dem Skript einer True-Crime-Fernsehsendung, in der ein ungelöster Mordfall nach 20 Jahren noch einmal aufgerollt werden soll. Durch das Format bleiben alle Charaktere flach und wären eigentlich nicht erwähnenswert, doch kommt schließlich heraus,
Spoiler dass doch alle einen persönlichen Bezug zum Fall haben. Es folgen seitenweise gegenseitige Schuldzuweisungen, die dann alle doch nicht stimmen und nur Zeitverschwendung sind.
Diesen ganzen Teil fand ich ganz schön lächerlich. Zudem werde ich das Gefühl nicht los, dass einige Ermittlungsarbeiten, die einen Großteil des Buches einnehmen, schließlich ins Nichts laufen bzw. mit dem Lösen des Mordfalls überhaupt nichts zu tun haben. Leider war das alles also gar nicht mein Fall und ich würde das Buch auch nicht weiter empfehlen.

thattattooedreader's review

4.0
emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
readingwithmanda's profile picture

readingwithmanda's review

4.0
challenging hopeful informative mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A
meggiemae5's profile picture

meggiemae5's review

2.75
medium-paced
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

First off, just a piece of info I didn't have going into the book that I think might be useful for you to have if you're starting it - the entire book is told through press releases, scripts of the show, emails, text messages/ voice message transcrips, and a reddit-like social media thread. And while that's interesting, I wasn't expecting that and it almost made me put it down as soon as I picked it up and I'm so glad I didn't.

The format is very interesting but it also means that a lot of the action takes place off-screen, so you're finding a lot of things out after-the-fact, kind of like you're the viewers of the show in the book. Actually, if you've ever watched a show and thought, "I wish I could read this instead I'd do it faster" (I have) then this format is for you. 

As for the plot itself, it was interesting off the bat. A 20-year-old cold case, with more or less unreliable witnesses (who seem to be hiding something from the beginning) makes for a very compelling plot. I LOVED the twists, especially the cliffhanger "episode ending" style of them. Seeing all the "experts" reason it out means that you get to think with them and form theories, which was also very exciting for me. I also love when mystery books do a false solution, so I loved the one here especially because it was very convincing. And of course when the real ending comes along it's surprising and even if it was one of your theories you've already discredited it.

Also omg did that ending imply what I thought it did???? Because nothing is explicit, you had to play close attention to figure it out.
dark mysterious fast-paced
dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

suwanrie's review

4.0
mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated