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mikathereviewer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
‘You don’t understand it. But just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean you get to ignore it. You can’t just pretend the pattern doesn’t exist and hope it goes away.’
- Sloane
This time we are in Las Vegas and in a grand hotel named Majesty. Lots of numbers, math and especially poker is the main topic for the third book in the natural series.
Who kills the people who play poker?
Who is skilled enough in maths?
And who sees through the killer's poker face?
Just as I wished for it on my first review for this series we finally get Sloane to get more screen time!! I'm so happy to see her more often and being able to have a look at her past.
(Near the middle to the end of the story we also get Lia's backstory!!)
I really liked about these plot twists and story that they were all new. Nothing like the previous books and the strategy for letting the story not be predictable is also each time different so when you are skilled in finding out one of these, you are likely to find the next one not that predictable. Honestly so far; The first book was the least predictable. The 2nd was a bit annoying but still didn't got 1 and this one was ONLY predictable. There was nothing I didn't know of (based on who was the killer, not talking about the ending plot twist, which I will call later on the 2nd major plot twist). But for the defence of this book — It had less plot twists than the previous ones.
Also was fond of the research done of a certain mathematical calculation/phenomenon. I know it's not made-up so this author actually needed to understand it to put it inside her book; And even though I'm not a maths genius I would say she did a great job. Was very interesting to see the complexity of this book to be also way higher than the rest. I liked that. A lot. It felt different and more refreshing. Needed to think more which was a challenge to me as most mystery books just give you the answer in the hand before letting you think about them.
We get a bit of trauma and mental illnesses once again for this book and I'm not mentioning which character but that's a bit of a content warning from my side here; We get a scene of a panic attack. And let me tell you why I mention this instead of just collecting it with the rest of content warnings at the bottom of my review; Even though it might trigger some I think that such is a good tool to make characters seem more real and less one-dimensional. They all have their quirks and backstory but they also all have DIFFERENT ways to cope with emotions and situations. Already mentioned the rest in my last review though, but we get a new one. And I think personally that panic attacks are quite fascinating on its own.
Lia is so nosey out of nowhere it gets on my nerves. Sorry to all Lia fans, but I never really liked her. She also doesn't mind her own business but was mad when someone else didn't mind their business in the first book. The irony.
I also hate how she acts like she is the main character by telling Cassie all the time that she doesn't know how someone else feels. Like as if Lia knows it from ALL of them. I'm sure she had other issues in her childhood and just acts like she understands everyone. There is no way she experienced EVERYTHING all the 4 others did.
The plot twist were this time a bit less and more story focused on the last few books. There were 2 major plot twists. And let me tell you that the killer was so obvious this time it hurt. The person was my FIRST 'suspect' and then when they said something obvious which only the killer has I was like; They do this on purpose so that we continue thinking that this person is the killer. And guess what. That wasn't it. Or maybe the author wanted it to be predictable I don't know but I knew who the killer was. And since it was too predictable I also changed my 'suspect' and then in the end it was exactly the obvious one. Like we know it's that person not even 40% in the book!! We aren't halfway through and we know it's that person! And guess what. The author tried to make a second major plot twist regarding the same person so that we think it's ain't them. But that won't help anymore. It's too late!
The sentence that let me know before being 40% in the story to think it was too obvious to keep that person as a suspect:
My note to it: ah f*$k that's too obvious now if if was him. I say it was his sister Tory as she seems a bit passive aggressive towards him.
(In the end though I sticked to Aaron as I thought since we got Sloane's backstory that it ends like the first book)
Also, another thing that was quite obvious was when after already being 39% in the story and we get told it's an organised killer, like are you serious?? WE KNOW THAT. It's more than OBVIOUS!
Also we got told so often (lost count) that the kills are personal so I was always on the lookout for someone who could have a motive for the people who died or was in general a personal person. And guess what; I was right. The kills were personal. Who could have guessed.
Here is the sentence of it (40% in): The numbers mattered to the UNSUB. They matter to you, because they matter to someone else. I’d thought that the UNSUB was performing. For who?
One could theoretically say after being in the latest of 40% into the story that we could already guess the killer and it's motives.
Here's also once again my note to a certain moment of it; "What I did know was that my mother was alive."
The note: I knew that they got the test wrong and that her mother lives
Also what does the author have with the age of 12 and trauma? Like literally every character has some kind of trauma at that age
Is the author alright?
Do I need to worry??
There was also this one cringe-worthy scene: “She was your whole world, your alpha and your omega, and then she was gone.” Don't think I need to explain this.
Once again a bit romance but still less than the first book! So that's a progress, I guess. And I think they also finally decided who gets Cassie now instead of continuing fighting. At least it sounded like that.
Only romantic thing I think was adorable was when Dean didn't use 'I' for the case of Cassie's mum as he didn't want to imagine to have done this to her and her mum.
Speaking of adorable, the scenes were Sloane needed a hug and said it in her analytic way was so wholesome and how she hugged Cassie more than once! They are such cute friends!!
The ending was very gripping. We are so close to an all-end for this series and I know EXACTLY what will happen in the next book based on the ending, BUT that's good as I will be more excited to read it than if it's an ending that tells me nothing and doesn't make me excited to read the next.
I also really wanted to give this book this time 4 stars, but the whole predictability was such a disappointment. Originally wanted to give it 4, due to the complexity and it's rare to see something like this nowadays in mystery books. Maybe the next and last one will get 4 from me.
—————
PS love the Batman reference in chapter 9 ;)
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Abandonment
Minor: Kidnapping, Stalking, and Alcohol
fairychos's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Blood and Murder
kirstenpod_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Stalking
Minor: Abandonment
redempta's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
I fee like this book is a fan favorite but I liked it less than the first. Maybe I wasn't it the right mood to read it.
The ending ?!?! I'm ready for the next book.
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Alcohol
theautomaticreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing and Abandonment
serena_hien's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
meganm1587's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, and Abandonment
mrsm_lovesbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Moderate: Violence and Blood
Minor: Torture
brooklyn0426's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse and Abandonment
Minor: Kidnapping and Fire/Fire injury
readwithsophsx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail