Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Agathas by Liz Lawson, Kathleen Glasgow

104 reviews

hollyk's review against another edition

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

4.5

I am a sucker for a multi-media story. Give me transcripts! News articles! Tweets! All of it.

This book has an engaging plot, I figured it out about 60% of the way through, but I'm here for a good time, so that sort of thing never bothers me.

Iris Adams, I love her. She is precious. She's a nerd (affectionate) who is dragged into figuring out this murder. She's tough, she's clever, and she deserves all good things.

Alice Ogilvie is a perplexing character. She grew on me, but there are definitely times where her internal monologue comes across as "grown adults writing shallow teens" which was a bit annoying. I also did not like how we barely find out where/why/how Alice just up and disappeared over the summer. It's barely a paragraph in one of the final chapters. I think Alice is better when she's with Iris, but I feel like Iris could stand on her own as a character, whereas Alice is weaker in terms of development.

Spike, Nora, and Neil were fun, but they lowkey could've been condensed into one or two people--they didn't have enough page time to shine as individuals (namely Nora and Neil).

Now, Alice is obsessed with Agatha Christie. I mean the title of the book is a reference to her. The issue I have is that Christie's works contain racism--which isn't uncommon for the time, but it is a fact that cannot be ignored (while Christie's intentions can be debated, that does not erase the fact that her books have racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, etc). The book And Then There Were None originally had the N-word in the title. I wish that this had been addressed in the book, whether in the book itself or in an author's note. 

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miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

3.25

And why was it not sapphic? Hmmm??

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jackyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0


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imstephtacular's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0


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lizaxwin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

I really had a hard time putting this book down. I haven‘t read a crime story in quite some time and this one really reeled me in. I liked the two main characters, Iris and Alice, and how their personal problems got interwoven in the story.

Something I especially enjoyed was how the story took you from suspecting one character to the next and to the next. I was trying to piece everything together but I was
so convinced Coach did it, I never would‘ve suspected Ms Westmacott.


A gripping story, with some fun but also some deep parts! Perfect kick-off for spooky season reads!

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sprinkledwithwords's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced
  • 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

4.0


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memazz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

4.5


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a_bookish_discovery's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? No

5.0


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taymorton20's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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xlaurareads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

i thoroughly enjoyed this book! it was recommended to me by a friend of mine and i had quite high hopes on it - which were absolutely met! it was incredibly well-written with strong, amazingly crafted characters, a great storyline and incredible plot points. i had a love-hate-relationship with the fact that it took me incredibly long to figure out who the murderer is because i'm usually quite good at that. but i must say, it took the authors quite a while to drop the hints as to who the murderer is...and when they started doing so, it was quite obvious who it was. that's actually the only issue i have here, but it was a great read altogether. 

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