Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Couple Next Door

pretty good book just based on how it grabs your attention (i literally read it in a few hours) but it was a bit unorganized and predictable at times and the ending was stupid

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untanglingbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

In my opinion an average crime novel, it was definitely good, but nothing special. I loved all the twists this book offered though. And I felt like the characters were portrayed really well, so everything felt very realistic.
The cliffhanger was kinda shocking though. 😳

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bookishandlegal's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Perfectly average thriller—engaging and fun to read, but nothing extraordinary. The kidnapper is revealed about halfway through the book but there are still many twists and discoveries that happen as the book progresses. A super fast read, only took a few hours to read. I called some of the twists from a mile away, but some of them took a little bit to put together.

I did not love the way depression/postpartum depression were discussed. It very much made it seem like mental health was a taboo thing and that having a psychiatric or being on anti depressants (the absolute lowest dose was described as “a powerful antidepressant”) made you an automatic danger to yourself and your child. This was a theme throughout the book and it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth.

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temeade's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book was AMAZING! There were so many twists and turns happening throughout the entire book! It easily kept my interest.

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laurawoods13's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Very fast-paced interesting book. I enjoyed reading it and wanted to know what was going to happen next, but I was extremely disappointed by the ending. It was very rushed, lazy, and frankly not really believable. It seemed like a weak way to wrap up the book, without actually finishing the story.

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ravensandlace's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Find this review and others like it on https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com/

This was not a good book. I am disappointed because I was looking forward to this book and I was so excited when I found this book for less than ten dollars (USD). I had read some pretty positive reviews and I was ready to be thrilled with mystery. Instead, I got a lot of just awfulness. The characters were incredibly unlikable and just plain dumb. They constantly made awful decisions and then complained about what their decisions cost them. The secret twist was revealed halfway through the book so I had to slog through the rest of it. Everything about this book was just awful.

The writing was not great either. It was incredibly stilted and I was just told things. I was told how the characters felt. I was told everything in such minute detail and repeatedly. It was a slog to read certain parts. It was a chore to read through the whole book. I basically guessed the twist about the first 100 pages or so.

The characters were the absolute worst. I can’t even be bothered to look up their names because I just couldn’t bring myself to care about them. They were so damn unlikable. Now I have no problem with unlikable characters. They can really make the book. But not this time. They constantly were doing just the dumbest things and it made me want to scream “THAT WON’T HELP YOU!”. I was just so annoyed with them all the time.

Overall, not a good book. The only kind of positive was Anne’s postpartum depression and how well it was depicted. I have never experienced postpartum depression as I don’t have a kid. But I felt like it was really well done and showed just how hard having depression and taking care of a child is. Course, she had another unspecified mental illness and the police made her look awful because of it. There was a point in the book where the police found her medications after searching the house and they immediately suspected her simply because she took depression medication. Great police work *rolls eyes*. That trope just needs to be retired. Honestly just avoid this book. It was really not good.

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