Reviews

Hard to listen to at sometimes, but a withering satire. I quite liked the jumbled weaving of POVs and research clippings and interviews. I felt like it gave the book a very physical feel, as if I was actually in the midst of a news story. Didn’t leave a lot to the imagination but also wasn’t too graphic. The commentary on true crime culture and social media was well done in my opinion. Think it could have benefited from a tighter or slighty better conclusion. Also not for the faint at heart.

nicolealeseh's review against another edition

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dark sad 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? Yes

3.5

obviouschild96's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? Yes

4.0

rosiesmosie's review against another edition

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dark 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? Yes

3.75

crsmurphy's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

catsushi's review against another edition

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3.0

I for sure thought this was gonna be a five star book. The first 30% had me hooked. Unfortunately, this book was just too long for what it was. I wasn't necessarily bored, but I did feel it drag multiple times. It also felt like the author was trying to do a lot in this book by adding so many different things and topics and that part felt all over the place. I did like that she didn't make this into a simple story. I enjoyed that she got into the backstories of all the girls involved. They were fleshed out and felt like real people. I liked how complex the story really was, but I didnt care for how the author kept going into all these different backstories for all these places and even people that weren't directly involved with the crime. I don't think the book needed all that. I enjoyed this book, but this book could have been five stars if it was shorter and some things were taken out. Overall, this was a solid read for true crime fans.

mhrocm's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No

4.0

If you read a book, but the story inside is written and narrated by a fictitious author who tells a story of how a group of fictitious teenagers commit a fictitious murder in a fictitious town, based on fictitious blog posts and fictitious interviews which may or may not have been reliably reported by the fictitious author along with a reconstruction of the teenagers’ thoughts and feelings by the fictional author which may not truly reflect the actual thoughts and feelings of the fictitious teenagers, what do you believe? Does it even matter?
If the writing is bad is it the actual author, or is it the fictional author inadvertently showing us something about themselves whilst asserting the opposite?
True, not true, right, wrong, victim, perpetrator, honest, dishonest are all words that the reader is left to ponder. It’s really very well done and ultimately this is a story about our very human fascination with the motivation behind true crime in all its forms. That’s ok isn’t it? It’s natural to want to understand the why, but is it ok when our consumption feeds the industry behind it and contributes to increasingly extreme behaviour by consumers (copycat crime or glorification of mass murderers for example)and creators (causing distress and harm to those affected by crime in search of material)? Ouch. Have to have a think about that.

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