Reviews

Without Mercy by Renate Dorrestein

nashaki's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

obscuredbyclouds's review

3.0

I've never wanted to read happy books in my life, but at the moment, for the first time, I long for escapism that transports me to happy places and doesn't depress me further. Let's just say my TBR pile is NOT delivering. This Dutch novel is about the death of a child and the deterioration of a marriage and is somewhere in the middle of the how-depressing-can-a book-be scale. It's a little too melodramatic and ridiculous at times to be really painful - another reviewer said it felt more like a play than a novel and I agee; there's some dialogue that went totally over my head. The first part was a lot more believable than the second, but it brought drama and I was entertained.

life_couch's review

3.0

Definitely not a summer book, rather disturbing and painful to read. Too many confusing dialogues.
Feels like a theater play, not a real novel.

sarah42783's review

2.0

I just finished reading this book last night and let's just say it left me...disconcerted! I love Dorrestein's writing style and the themes she develops here but the plot is just... I don't know, I just don't get it! When I first started reading the book, I was enjoying it a lot (actually even more than I did A Heart of Stone) but then I got to page 90 or so and the "bridge incident" in Groningen and I thought: seriously?! For me, the book just goes downhill from there, the plot is just very disappointing and doesn't make much sense, what a shame...