Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels

I enjoyed the book’s unique format of documents which makes it easy to read, digestible, and addictive. It is also interesting in relation the crime/mystery genre, as I found myself trying to piece the evidence together myself. The only issue with this is at some points it felt forced and unrealistic, like recording conversations that would not be relevant, very direct texts and convenient messages that explained everything, not to mention

the play script which for me felt a little too easy and convenient, though I can see why it was included and it did tie things together and make the events make sense as a reader

. I think this format also makes us feel like we are quite distanced from the protagonist and whilst we want to know what happens we are not rooting for her - she isn’t likeable and comes across as very selfish - and she regularly lies to other people and hides things from us as readers, however

considering what we later find out I think this can be somewhat justified

. We also don’t get much impression of her personal feelings which adds to this and makes her hard to identify with, so whilst i did become very invested in the case I wasn’t invested in her character, I did, however love Ellie, she was such a real and comforting character that I genuinely liked and hoped for more from her (

which we did get!

). I quite liked the casual and conversational tone of the book in conversations or text exchanges, it made it very easy to follow and keep reading.

Also, although it was a little slow and repetitive at the beginning (a lot of trying to contact people and getting nowhere), taking a while for things to get going, once it did i found it quite captivating and I suppose this makes her investigation more realistic. In terms of the ending,

I kind of loved the revenge plot - especially since Oliver became more and more annoying - and how Ellie used this for her book (iconic from her). I think it came to a close really nicely and conclusively, it was satisfying to close and I wasn’t left with any questions or uncertainties.

Content Warnings

aileron's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

agathajanemaud1908's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Anything by Janice Hallett is a winner for me!

Content Warnings

darlab86's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is like a season of the Podcast Serial mixed with a Sherlock Holmes novel. I’ve never read anything like it and I was engrossed from the first page. Instead of telling a story in a normal, linear way, you are presented with all of the evidence (emails, articles, text messages…) and it is left to you to figure out what to do with it. Highly recommend for anyone who is a fellow true crime junkie!

Content Warnings

cloudyworld's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved Janice Hallet's other book, The Appeal, bc it was witty, fresh, and an interesting way to piece together a crime. This one was one million times better. It's a book I could only listen to while driving because I didn't want to miss anything. All of the actors in the audio version are talented, and make the book even more thrilling. I gasped, I shouted, I laughed out loud. It was a twist upon a twist upon another twist that I couldn't have even come close to making up. Absolutely gripping. I loved it. If you want to solve a murder mystery and you love cults and cover ups, this is the book you gotta read. I'm gonna go recommend it to everyone now.

Content Warnings

megelizabeth's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

"It sunk into the scene like a stone beneath quicksand. Like the truth sinks lower with every telling of a lie."

I really, really enjoyed this. For a while I wasn't sure about it because I didn't really like the main character and couldn't tell if we were supposed to, but that ended up bothering me less and less because a) she does become a bit more bearable but more importantly b) the story is just SO ridiculously clever and tightly-plotted and honestly pretty genius. It's so layered and fascinating and had me so, so gripped, and I shouldn't have doubted the mixed-media format as it was SUCH an interesting way to tell the story (and in itself raises such interesting questions about what was inevitably omitted). I also loved the subtle commentary around true crime and the ethics of writing about it.

I will say that there were a couple of elements I was still slightly confused about by the end, hence it not quite being a 5*, but I don't know how much of that was the book versus how much was just me (and me reading it very late whilst extremely tired because I couldn't put it down). It also ended up being a lot darker than I expected, but mostly in a good way and definitely in a really interesting and unique way, and yeah I just really loved it!

Content Warnings

tamara_joy's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

More...