Reviews

The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

Only show reviews with written explanations

ritajuanita's review against another edition

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inspiring mysterious reflective medium-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? No

4.0

monijcz's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

nikkissaw's review

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3.0

I love all the Gamache series books and highly recommend them to everyone. The only one I didn’t love was The Long Way Home. I was so excited to read this book because it has been about a year since I finished the series. It started off strong, with an excellent, twisty mystery but a little over halfway through it became redundant. And honestly there were pieces to the mystery I felt they were missing, while focusing on other possibly insignificant facts. I don’t think I’ve read one of these books and felt that I saw the missing pieces before the inspector did. It felt as though they kept talking about and guessing at the same theories over and over and over and THEN! What pushed me over the edge was they don’t even solve the crime at the end! I loathe books that don’t have a final conclusion- that leave you to wonder. Penny is usually very good about closing out her stories, I don’t know what happened with this one. Although I didn’t loathe this book I was disappointed at the conclusion.
The other thing I didn’t like was how it was wrapped around the pandemic. It wasn’t a huge part of the story but it was included and let’s be honest, having lived it the past 2+ years it is really the last thing I want to read or hear about.
If she writes another I’ll definitely read it, I’ll read them all until she closes out the series.
And when the heck is this going to make it to TV? Would be a good long lasting series IMO.

mbozarth's review

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challenging hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

jillj's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense

4.25

laurenleigh's review

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mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

I needed a comfort read, and Inspector Gamache always hits the spot. Truly some of the best audiobook performances ever. One of my favorite things about Penny is her ability to play with pacing. She takes her time when she needs to expound on a complex issue, but she propels the action forward when everything’s going down. I love the anticipation it builds.

Content Warnings