Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett

5 reviews

disguisedposer's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lautodd_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.75

Wild. Fire. Disturbing, but couldn’t put it down.

A story about a famous true crime novelist— persistent and doggedly and dangerously determined— writing an exposé novel about The Alperton Angels case: an 18-year old satanic cult case involving several murders-by-suicide-pact and a surviving teenage couple and their 2-month-old baby.

I’m not usually a true crime or mystery/thriller fan, but the story towed the tense line of eerie and practical very well.

In hindsight, it wasn’t a book that moved me so deeply as it was engaging and pleasing. Writing the novel with mixed media— WhatsApp messages, transcribed audio recordings, emails, hand-written letters, excerpts from the book-in-progress—was such a clever, befitting choice for this story and is probably would provoked me to read through the night. There’s something enticing, felt-morally wrong, and revelatory about reading messages and writings and recordings— the ins and outs— of a circumstance or a life. Perhaps satisfying our desires to be caught up in other lives and stories, not necessarily because we are disappointed with our own, but because there are other billions of stories and worlds out there outside of our own, and bearing witness to that— whether a lovely or gruesome one— is beyond fathomable; particularly proving that there’s so much of the finite that is infinite and outside of our control or imagination.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

embey's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

taylormoore's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

alisonannk's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...