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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
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
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
tense
fast-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
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
“So no cliff-hanger to end with, Bill? You’re losing your touch”
Thoughts 💭
Just woah. Out of all people I DEFINITELY didn’t guess that character as the murderer. This book had me at the absolute edge of my seat! I will say the play script writing style in this one made it both easy and harder to read? I was in a lot of plays in middle school so it felt weird to be reading a script but not memorizing any lines 😂 this is a super quick and fun read I definitely recommend it for spooky season!
Blurb 📖
“It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.
Luke Ryder’s murder has never been solved. Guy Howard’s mother and two sisters were in the house at the time of the murder—but all swear they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.
But some murder cases are simply too big to forget…
Now comes the sensational new streaming series Infamous, dedicated to investigating—and perhaps cracking—this famous cold case. Years later a group of experts re-examine the evidence – with shocking results. Does the team know more than they’ve been letting on?
True crime lovers and savvy readers, you can review the evidence and testimony at the same time as the experts. But can you solve the case before they do”
“So no cliff-hanger to end with, Bill? You’re losing your touch”
Thoughts 💭
Just woah. Out of all people I DEFINITELY didn’t guess that character as the murderer. This book had me at the absolute edge of my seat! I will say the play script writing style in this one made it both easy and harder to read? I was in a lot of plays in middle school so it felt weird to be reading a script but not memorizing any lines 😂 this is a super quick and fun read I definitely recommend it for spooky season!
Blurb 📖
“It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.
Luke Ryder’s murder has never been solved. Guy Howard’s mother and two sisters were in the house at the time of the murder—but all swear they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.
But some murder cases are simply too big to forget…
Now comes the sensational new streaming series Infamous, dedicated to investigating—and perhaps cracking—this famous cold case. Years later a group of experts re-examine the evidence – with shocking results. Does the team know more than they’ve been letting on?
True crime lovers and savvy readers, you can review the evidence and testimony at the same time as the experts. But can you solve the case before they do”
I really liked the unique format of the book, I haven’t read anything like it before. Maybe that’s why I felt a bit confused at times and struggled to fully immerse myself in the story during the first half. I was also eagerly searching for clues about the murderer, but, as always, I didn’t figure it out until the final pages.
mysterious
medium-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
I liked the format at first — sometimes including emails, texts, articles, etc gets me more interested in a story. But the main parts of the book are written as a transcript because it’s about a true crime show taking a look at a cold case. Unfortunately that means it is an entire book of people sitting around in front of a camera and talking. All of the investigative stuff happens off page and then they just tell us about it. Some of the dialogue felt quite stilted too. Probably should have dnf’d but I wanted to know who did it. Ending wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped, but it might work for someone else!
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Was so excited to read this book because of its format. I love reading murder mysteries which show newspaper clippings, tv reports, test results etc. It makes the reading much more fun and gives you a chance at cracking the case.
Murder in the Family is about the murder of Luke Ryder, in a posh locality in London. His step son is directing a true crime TV show, where seven experts in different fields, take a stab at solving the murder, which remains a mystery till date, 20 years after the murder.
Having read a lot of murder mysteries and psychological thrillers, I'm proud to say I guessed the killer very early on, as soon as we were given the facts of the case. While this didn't reduce my rating, the direction in which the investigation lead sucked out my patience.
I personally feel murder mystery books should introduce all the characters at the beginning and then go on to investigating who could have done it from this pool of characters. I hate it when the story just introduces a completely new character or a completely new linking at the very end of the story and says "Hey this is who did it".
While this book did not do that, the way the investigation was written definitely proved to be going in that direction. It just kept going around in circles, which seemed pointless, when the experts literally had everything they needed right in front of them.
I loved the ending though, and loved how it tied up the unexplained connections.
This can be a fun read though if you love true crime shows and podcasts.
Murder in the Family is about the murder of Luke Ryder, in a posh locality in London. His step son is directing a true crime TV show, where seven experts in different fields, take a stab at solving the murder, which remains a mystery till date, 20 years after the murder.
Having read a lot of murder mysteries and psychological thrillers, I'm proud to say I guessed the killer very early on, as soon as we were given the facts of the case. While this didn't reduce my rating, the direction in which the investigation lead sucked out my patience.
I personally feel murder mystery books should introduce all the characters at the beginning and then go on to investigating who could have done it from this pool of characters. I hate it when the story just introduces a completely new character or a completely new linking at the very end of the story and says "Hey this is who did it".
While this book did not do that, the way the investigation was written definitely proved to be going in that direction. It just kept going around in circles, which seemed pointless, when the experts literally had everything they needed right in front of them.
I loved the ending though, and loved how it tied up the unexplained connections.
This can be a fun read though if you love true crime shows and podcasts.