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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
mysterious
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:
No
i guess
medium-paced
this is how i’d write a mystery (completely irrelevant details) but if i was also a misogynist and a rampant boymom and just ignored every plot line ever
What sort of teacher knows who the murderer is but decides that a high school student needs to learn a lesson about their own skills and strength so they don't tell anyone who did it?!
Will this book change lives? No. Was this book entertaining? Yes.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Easy, fast paced murder mystery. Felt a bit Scooby Doo and the mystery gang. Def YA but a fun read nonetheless.
I just didn’t feel fully engaged the whole way through. It started off strong and then the middle just seemed to go on with minimal peak points.
The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle is a YA fiction book centered around a boarding school murder. We follow the main character, Luke Chase, as he works to exonerate his best friend and roommate, Oscar, from accusations of murdering a teacher, Mrs. Heckler – the second Mrs. Heckler, that is. As a sort-of celebrity in his own right, the Kidnapped Kid, who escaped a kidnapping three years before the start of The Murder Game, Luke is poised as being uniquely capable at investigating and solving the murder of Mrs. Heckler, a murder that had taken place only feet away from where he and a few friends had gathered after sneaking out of their dorms afterhours.
To say I struggled getting through this book would be a smidgen of an understatement. I sent my friend a few screaming GIFs as she urged me on to get through it. It’s a relatively short and easy book to read, nothing too complicated despite the fact that its a YA murder mystery story; however, I found it boring and clichéd. Additionally, while the writing was, for the most part, average, the ending action scenes left a lot to be desired.
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book where I wholeheartedly did not like a single character in it. In The Murder Game, almost all of the characters were strikingly unprofessional and uncaring. Reading about a school that seemed to treat a murder as a grand ol’ adventure or – disturbingly – like a joke was unpleasant. While I realize that high school aged teenagers are not the most mature of people, I don’t think a majority of them would be as blasé about it. When one of the more mature and sane students becomes upset over a “joke” that a student played the day after the murder of a teacher, even the main character is taken a little aback by the vehemence Liz displays.
For a character that really wants to present himself as mature, trustworthy, respectful, and knowledgeable, he really isn’t. Luke Chase just comes across as a douchy, better-than-thou high schooler. This isn’t a story in which the main character is left on his own to solve the mystery or one where no one would believe him. Luke Chase just decides to solve the murder on his own because he was near the murder that night and his friend is in trouble. Instead, he seems to go out of his way to impede an active police investigation. Which is especially frustrating at the end when he accuses the police of taking too long to locate the murderer when he ensured certain evidence was withheld or delayed from getting to the police.
The adults in this novel are no better. They are portrayed like the high schoolers except their age and positions are mentioned more often. When we do get characterization of the adult characters, it’s all half-formed and a little nerve-wracking. I would honestly hope that if any one of the adult characters were real people that they’d never be a teacher. The rampant unprofessionalism and downright creepiness of the adults makes me uncomfortable. It may be the boarding school setting that is supposed to make the adults act as they do but I don’t think so – I just think they’re poorly thought out characters. One of the teachers knows who the murderer is and more than likely actively witnessed it, and rather than tell the police, he’s too upset that he’s not treated like faculty and apparently also want’s to prove to Luke that his escape from his kidnapping was not a fluke.
That is batshit fucking insane (and not in a good way, not even close).
Speaking of which, I just want to say that having the skills to escape a kidnapping and having the skills to solve a murder are two different things. I’m not saying escaping a kidnapping is easy, by any means, but the fact that there are legitimate stories about people annoying their kidnappers enough to release them and that there aren’t any stories like that about solving a murder might indicate something.
Overall, I was really disappointed by this book. With a title like The Murder Game and the awesome cover art, I expected a, well, murder game. That’s not at all what I got. Additionally, there are a lot of plot points left out which I think was intentionally done so that they could be explored in book sequels. However, some of them shouldn’t have been because they would have helped make the story more interesting; would have helped characterize the characters; or because they are going to leave a lot of questions if there isn’t a sequel. I think it’s always a dangerous game to bank on a sequel to provide more information when releasing the first book in a series just in case it doesn’t go further. There are some plot points that I didn’t need elaborated further, such as Pippa’s deal – that was one I could wait for in another book – or even the Strangler – I bet he would get to make a comeback – but others should have been elaborated more, such as Luke’s kidnapping or Mr. Hamaguchi’s reaction to the murder (and the previous dead girlfriend tidbit is not enough).
With all of that being said, I’d give The Murder Game 2 stars out of 5. At the end of the day, it just left a lot to be desired. I think there was the potential for some good storytelling but what I got was way too much dialogue (I never notice the amount of dialogue unless that’s all there is and that’s what it felt like at times) and a pretty straightforward mystery that wasn’t really surprising. I wanted a body count and a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse. What I got was Luke looking at Pippa’s ass.
To say I struggled getting through this book would be a smidgen of an understatement. I sent my friend a few screaming GIFs as she urged me on to get through it. It’s a relatively short and easy book to read, nothing too complicated despite the fact that its a YA murder mystery story; however, I found it boring and clichéd. Additionally, while the writing was, for the most part, average, the ending action scenes left a lot to be desired.
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book where I wholeheartedly did not like a single character in it. In The Murder Game, almost all of the characters were strikingly unprofessional and uncaring. Reading about a school that seemed to treat a murder as a grand ol’ adventure or – disturbingly – like a joke was unpleasant. While I realize that high school aged teenagers are not the most mature of people, I don’t think a majority of them would be as blasé about it. When one of the more mature and sane students becomes upset over a “joke” that a student played the day after the murder of a teacher, even the main character is taken a little aback by the vehemence Liz displays.
For a character that really wants to present himself as mature, trustworthy, respectful, and knowledgeable, he really isn’t. Luke Chase just comes across as a douchy, better-than-thou high schooler. This isn’t a story in which the main character is left on his own to solve the mystery or one where no one would believe him. Luke Chase just decides to solve the murder on his own because he was near the murder that night and his friend is in trouble. Instead, he seems to go out of his way to impede an active police investigation. Which is especially frustrating at the end when he accuses the police of taking too long to locate the murderer when he ensured certain evidence was withheld or delayed from getting to the police.
The adults in this novel are no better. They are portrayed like the high schoolers except their age and positions are mentioned more often. When we do get characterization of the adult characters, it’s all half-formed and a little nerve-wracking. I would honestly hope that if any one of the adult characters were real people that they’d never be a teacher. The rampant unprofessionalism and downright creepiness of the adults makes me uncomfortable. It may be the boarding school setting that is supposed to make the adults act as they do but I don’t think so – I just think they’re poorly thought out characters. One of the teachers knows who the murderer is and more than likely actively witnessed it, and rather than tell the police, he’s too upset that he’s not treated like faculty and apparently also want’s to prove to Luke that his escape from his kidnapping was not a fluke.
That is batshit fucking insane (and not in a good way, not even close).
Speaking of which, I just want to say that having the skills to escape a kidnapping and having the skills to solve a murder are two different things. I’m not saying escaping a kidnapping is easy, by any means, but the fact that there are legitimate stories about people annoying their kidnappers enough to release them and that there aren’t any stories like that about solving a murder might indicate something.
Overall, I was really disappointed by this book. With a title like The Murder Game and the awesome cover art, I expected a, well, murder game. That’s not at all what I got. Additionally, there are a lot of plot points left out which I think was intentionally done so that they could be explored in book sequels. However, some of them shouldn’t have been because they would have helped make the story more interesting; would have helped characterize the characters; or because they are going to leave a lot of questions if there isn’t a sequel. I think it’s always a dangerous game to bank on a sequel to provide more information when releasing the first book in a series just in case it doesn’t go further. There are some plot points that I didn’t need elaborated further, such as Pippa’s deal – that was one I could wait for in another book – or even the Strangler – I bet he would get to make a comeback – but others should have been elaborated more, such as Luke’s kidnapping or Mr. Hamaguchi’s reaction to the murder (and the previous dead girlfriend tidbit is not enough).
With all of that being said, I’d give The Murder Game 2 stars out of 5. At the end of the day, it just left a lot to be desired. I think there was the potential for some good storytelling but what I got was way too much dialogue (I never notice the amount of dialogue unless that’s all there is and that’s what it felt like at times) and a pretty straightforward mystery that wasn’t really surprising. I wanted a body count and a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse. What I got was Luke looking at Pippa’s ass.
It was ok, nothing excellent but not terrible. Overall fine, an average murder mystery.
DNF about 25% through, the character dialogue and story telling just killed me.