dkamada's review

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challenging funny informative lighthearted mysterious
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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ineedrhythm's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0


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joxinabox's review against another edition

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

5.0

I absolutely ADORE this book, I think it's my favorite mystery novel I've ever read.

Ernest and his family feel like incredibly real people, all of them are flawed but extremely lovable. Ernie has this witty narration style that pokes fun at the mystery genre without dipping into outright insulting it, instead many of the jabs feel loving and lighthearted towards the typical tropes of a mystery novel. There's a lot of clever clues and build ups to the big twists, this is absolutely a novel you'll want to read/listen to several times. You'll pick up on so much on your other read throughs. I like them so much I refuse to mention spoilers in this review less I give it all away for someone who gets a little too nosy before they read the book. Go read this right now.

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kiki_15's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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

4.5


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tashtasher's review

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.0


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chronic_listener's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0


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giasbookhaven's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Dark, witty, challenging and compelling. I co-read with the audiobook and at times I found the audiobook made things too confusing with all the details, comments and side notes the author includes in the narrative. Likewise, Ern can become annoying if you read this book in a short sitting like I did. 

With that said, I found the story interesting and compelling enough to power through. And I would be interested in reading the second book in this series. Being familiar with a number of  how to write a mystery rules, there were a few things I could pick up on and guess. But it was nice to know that even if I guessed correctly about some of those things, it did not ruin the book or the overall mystery for me. 

This book holds a lot of humor and it was darker than I believe I was anticipating. The big twists in the narrative were shocking but not so shocking that they were unbelievable or too superfluous. It would take a  member of this crazy family to stick through all this nonsense because if it were me, I would have gracefully bowed out.  

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tabea1409's review against another edition

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

3.25


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mousecat's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0


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ammah's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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