Take a photo of a barcode or cover
livia_r's review against another edition
dark
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? Yes
4.5
kphalo's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
garbydoll's review against another edition
Tedious and frankly a bit too much slightly nauseating talk about blood. In the end I didn’t care enough to plough on to the end
suzannetronier's review against another edition
4.0
Very entertaining story from the writer of the Dead Father's Club about a family of vampires struggling to pass as normal in their narrow little British town. It isn't easy to be a bloodsucker.
sarahloubooks's review against another edition
4.0
This was definitely a fun read that I whipped through in no time at all. The Radley’s are for all intents and purposes your average suburban family, participating in their local community and living a rather boring and somewhat dispassionate marriage between Mum and Dad, Peter and Helen. However, underneath it all lies a dark secret that not even the families two children Clara and Rowan and aware of. The family are actually vampires, although the parents are now abstainers, eating only animal meat and have raised their unknowing children the same way as well. When an incident at a party means Peter and Helen can no longer hide the truth from their kids, and when a panicked Peter calls his estranged brother Will for help, things only go from bad to worse. This is fantastic imaginative storytelling, which really makes you root for the “bad guys” and feel a great deal of sympathy for blood suckers as they try to control their basic instincts.
dreaj's review against another edition
4.0
Read for 52 Book Club Challenge 2024 #5 Magical Realism.
Really enjoyed Matt Haig's amusing imagining of what it would be like if vampires lived in suburbia. He styles vampires as "blood addicts" (with their own Abstainer's Manual) and asks interesting questions about addiction and tamping down your true nature just to fit in with society and your partner. But the comparison causes some difficult answers as in real life, addiction masks a person's true nature and tends to wreak havoc. There is no easy middle ground...
Perhaps, I am reading too much into this breezy novel which wreaks gore, murder and mayhem in suburbia with gay abandon, and name-checks a lot of musicians and artists as vampires! A fun read, even if I had doubts about the implied approval of a lifestyle that feeds an "addiction" (not to mention the police's pragmatic accommodation of them...well, as long as they don't kill too many humans...!)
Really enjoyed Matt Haig's amusing imagining of what it would be like if vampires lived in suburbia. He styles vampires as "blood addicts" (with their own Abstainer's Manual) and asks interesting questions about addiction and tamping down your true nature just to fit in with society and your partner. But the comparison causes some difficult answers as in real life, addiction masks a person's true nature and tends to wreak havoc. There is no easy middle ground...
Perhaps, I am reading too much into this breezy novel which wreaks gore, murder and mayhem in suburbia with gay abandon, and name-checks a lot of musicians and artists as vampires! A fun read, even if I had doubts about the implied approval of a lifestyle that feeds an "addiction" (not to mention the police's pragmatic accommodation of them...well, as long as they don't kill too many humans...!)
midnighttolker's review
4.0
I was really, really pleasantly surprised by this book. It's more of an exploration of the human (and non-human) condition rather than a vampire story. Up until the end, it really REALLY reminded me of Rowling's Casual Vacancy. There are the characters, first of all. They all have very raw and real flaws that make them hard to like while still being interesting; the small English country village is very similar to Pagford too. At first the third person limited POV was off-putting, but it didn't take long to get used to it. Everything is told so matter-of-factly - it's brusque and very removed from everything happening to the characters. I would definitely recommend this for something a little bit different.