Reviews

Anna O by Matthew Blake

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bknight16's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Okay so I ruined this book for myself by finding out that he studied at Durham because then the references to Milton and Capote became irritating… Milton especially! I’m not sure anyone quotes Milton that much ever?!

I enjoyed the twist.
I enjoyed the start of the book, I felt the pace and the plot was clear….

By by the end: the plot was SUCH a mess! It was everywhere.
Also for a man that escaped to the Caribbean he seemed very comfortable to still have a job and endless dates?!

I’m not even sure if the giant twist made sense - it probably did but would V Bloom not have recognised Clara? How did her and Ben meet?

3 solid stars. I don’t usually love a thriller and this did have me hooked at the start and I genuinely didn’t guess the twist - I thought that Bloom might be Patient X lol…
Maybe that says more about the book (i.e. my lack of understanding) than this review.
I felt like the middle slogged a little and while I’m a fan of short chapters by the end it was just silly!
Yeah not sure I’d read another by Blake because genuinely unsure if I can face all the author references from my undergrad again!

Content Warnings

charlotte_k's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

frasersfunhouse's review against another edition

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4.0

Started strong and waned in the middle a bit. I had my suspicions of how this would wrap up but doubt still lingered enough to keep me gripped.

vivisms_82's review against another edition

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2.25

Intriguing premise, hence why I continued to the end albeit dragging my feet the last fifth of this book. Anna has committed heinous crime and in doing so has developed a psychosomatic disorder called resignation syndrome. The police obviously want her woken up to stand trial; the doctors want to do their duty. Seems interesting no? However I do not recommend this book. It is (and I cannot stress this enough) ridiculous. Short chapters without cliffhanger but continue normally into next chapter - umm why? But the big issues with this book, is we are to believe that

Clara orchestrated these crimes for her mothers' treatment in Broadmoor - the reason the mother was in Broadmoor in the first place was because Clara flippin framed her for the double homicide! Aaaand she stewed on this preposterous reason for 20 years? WTF?!! Also when Anna came for Ben in the Cayman Islands why didn't he leave/defend himself?? He basically rolled over and took it. Completely bonkers made no sense! And lastly, in this book you have two killers for two different reasons!!! Anna and Clara have separate agendas! Convoluted, brain frying.

The book feels like a draft. A first draft. Avoid at all costs.

aliciagoeser's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

bostonkatreads's review against another edition

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3.0

It’s around a 3.5 for me. A bit of a slow start to trudge through, but it got more interesting about 40% of the way in. I was surprised by the big reveal at the end, but I knew that something was coming and I typically don’t read trying to solve the case. I just let the story drag me along cluelessly. That said. The last few chapters were VERY repetitive in and of themselves. By the last chapter I was like: “ok we get it. Is this over yet?”