Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Still Life by Louise Penny

6 reviews

tym_flies's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I'm not a big mystery reader but I had fun with this one. I read it in audiobook format while I was doing other things a lot - very low commitment for me but I enjoyed that. It was good, and the ending took me by surprise but I suspect people more acquainted with mysteries would've had it wrapped. 

I also loved how casually funny it was. The bear grease thing really had me going for a minute. 

Also, Nicole was the most infuriating side character on the planet. The way Gamache kept trying to check her attitude and she kept thinking she was God's gift to the investigation was sending me over the edge. 
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kurumipanda's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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le3713's review against another edition

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

4.25

Couldn’t put it down!
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allingoodtime's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

 
This story wasn’t quite what I expected. It was a pick from my book club and I know a few of the members are great fans of Louise Penny. That fact may have had me going in with high expectations, I’m really not sure. I just couldn’t get into this story until well over halfway through. Even while I wasn’t fully immersed in the story, there were still things I liked. But it’s hard to read a mystery when it’s easy to put down for long stretches.

For some reason, I thought the main character of this book was going to be a woman. I had heard about this series but never really paid attention to the actual name of the series. So that threw me off right from the start. And while I ended up liking Armand Gamache, there were other characters that really bothered me.

For the most part, the townspeople were fun and quirky and enjoyable to read about. Agent Yvette Nichol was a whole other story. On one hand, the character must have been written well for her to annoy me so well. I believe that was a bit of the point. Her interactions with the others and how they reacted to her was more of the problem for me. I’m all for second and third chances, but she needed to be put firmly in her place and that didn’t happen often enough. I understand this is a long-ish series and this character may pop up again, which may explain her initial introduction. It was interesting but then dropped. It just didn’t make sense to me.

Here’s the thing, this story was just not my cup of tea. I can very easily see the appeal to other readers and very much think the author has a smooth writing style that has a nice flow. For me it was only a 3 star read, but I’m bumping that up to 4 stars since I know my personal rating has more to do with the genre and my own preferences and not the writing or story.

******************

This was a book I read for me book club. Below are some thoughts from them...

 There were five of us at book club this time with two of the members in my book club really loving this author and loving this book. Another enjoyed it a lot and wouldn’t mind reading more of the series. One was a DNF, and you’ve read my thoughts above. The DNF didn’t get far. She just wasn’t feeling it and (kudos to her) decided to not continue when there were other books for her to read. I have such a hard time DNF-ing a book. I wish I could make the cut much sooner without “what ifs”. Anyway, having our discussion of this story really made me glad I had decided, for posting on my usual outlets such as Goodreads and StoryGraph, that I’d give this story 4 stars. I knew, for the most part, my issues with the story wouldn’t be issues for other people. My sister (being one of the two who love this story) pointed out that this is also this author’s first published work and assured us all that her writing gets better and better as the series progresses. My aunt agreed. They are both quite a ways into the series and really can’t say enough good things about the writing, stories, and characters. They find Louise Penny to be a very smart author who really pays attention to details and how certain things will come out in future books. My thoughts are that if you are a fan of mysteries and quirky small towns, give this series a try. 
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littlefoot1919's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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kimveach's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

4.0

2019:  Found a "new" series for me to read!

2022:  Came back to this again after the reading the first nine in the series.   It's just as good as the first time and so fun to see details I didn't know the first time through. 
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