Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

38 reviews

wilwarinde's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Felt a bit of an unsatisfying reasoning and reveal, but did keep me guessing. Final ending felt unnecessary. 
Fast paced easy read and clear voices of each person.

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kirstenpod_'s review against another edition

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

3.5


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kmsander4's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-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

2.75

I'll be honest, I was really tempted to give this one 2 stars. But the reality is it was fine. There was a solid mystery that I didn't fully figure out until the reveal was made. And the premise is exactly what you get, I just feel like it could have been more.

The short glimpses into everyone's lives didn't give me enough to actually *really* care whether they lived or died, and the lack of solid investigating made it difficult to actually feel like I was with them trying to unravel the mystery. I just sort of felt like I was along for the ride.

The tipping point - and the thing that almost caused the 2 star rating - was the final chapter. I think it was a cheap way out to have Jessica still be alive. In fact, when I finished the section where she "died", all I could comment on was how her hubris had led to her death. I didn't think she deserved to die - obviously - but I did think her cockiness and reliance on "I'm a cop, nothing can hurt me" leading to her downfall may have been fitting.

I also think this story would have majorly benefitted from actually hearing from the parents! Or at least having a true investigation being done into their lives. Leaving this untouched really resulted in me feeling detached, which is never a great feeling!


It could have been worse, but with the premise, I was hoping for better.

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augustinedreams's review against another edition

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

3.0

There are so many characters, and it's a typical pick them off one by one scheme. Abd the plot twist was so left field can we even call it a plot twist???

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sigreads_'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No

2.0


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typedtruths's review against another edition

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

1.25

1.25 ★

i'm offended on agatha christie's behalf

 ▷ Representation: Arthur (mc) is gay; Sam (mc) is Jamaican; Jessica (mc) is mixed race, Vietnamese & Black (adopted by a white family with limited knowledge of her heritage).

BlogTrigger Warning DatabaseStoryGraph 

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minbyrnes's review against another edition

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

2.5

In terms of story, I don’t think it was as bad as people make it out to be. But I’m not that big of a mystery/thriller reader so I can’t really tell the difference between a good and bad one. I thought it was a fun enough read. I agree that And Then There Were None did it better though. 

What I really didn’t like was the use of the n-word (with a hard R too!) I had to look it up and the author and narrator are white. It made me really uncomfortable hearing the words being said. I know that the characters who say the word are black but why did the author even include that? There was absolutely NO reason in my opinion? The character didn’t even play a big role in the story? His sole role was to bring up Agatha Christie’s book and make the connection between this novel and And Then There Were None, like, “haha, see what I did there?” I see and I hate it. 

I didn’t really mind the motive. I’ve never understood killers so them having a stupid/silly motive clocks to me. And I actually liked
the Jack/Johnathan bit. Minus the part where he talks about Alison in the letter. That was gross.
 

Also, I was HAPPY when one of the characters died so I had that going for me. 

I didn’t understand why
Jessica survived
was included. I guess it was supposed to be a twist that the readers could try and guess since
they never mentioned her death in the news or whatever
but besides that I didn’t get the significance. 

Idk overall it was ok but I hate when racist language is included. Especially if there was NO REASON TO. 

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sleeson's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-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

3.25

I would have to say this audiobook was a good one. I finished it in one day at work. Obviously that means it kept me engaged. I can’t share too much without giving anything away about the nine characters. Give it a listen. I’m going to listen to more audiobooks by this author. 

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kimberlyswalters's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.25


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kaseymkelley's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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