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tiffthelibrarian's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Murder
lindaharty's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Murder
anissawren's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Suicide
Moderate: Murder, Child death, and Terminal illness
Minor: Animal death and Homophobia
sarah_readz's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexism, Classism, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Outing, Murder, Death, and Biphobia
nzmerchant's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
What a fantastic read! Absolutely loved how the stories were interlinked and how we got to view the writing world from the perspective of a rather jaded author. The murder mysteries were so cleverly written and I’ve been thinking about this for days even after I’ve finished reading it. Highly highly recommend and was glued to this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Murder
Minor: Infidelity
mementomoriiv's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Child abuse
junowo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
A very enjoyable mystery novel. I liked the use of the “book within a book” framework to create parallels and deepen meaning. Both Atticus and Susan are enjoyable characters to read, and I really loved trying to work things out myself.
I will say that the justification at the end for certain character’s actions fell a bit flat, but I was willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of the climax!
I will say that the justification at the end for certain character’s actions fell a bit flat, but I was willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of the climax!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Classism, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Grief, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Body shaming, Child death, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, and Animal death
erebus53's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Full disclosure, I am not normally a fan of murder mystery, and I picked this one up as a book club read. I tend to like a bit of Midsomer Murders and have often quipped that most episodes of the show have an Autistic character somewhere in there, but this is the first time I have ever heard a little-Britain story that explicitly says that the weird loner is Autistic.
This story is meta as füc# .. the main character is an Editor who is reading the last work of a murder mystery writer. The author of the work she wishes to publish, dies with unfinished business but appears to have ended his own life.. or has he? Or is a murder mystery fan just taking off on flights of fancy and imagining herself a sleuth.
As a book reviewer.. this book is really strange to read. Every point that I recognise in story construction is explained by the main character as she tries to assess the work she is reading; it feels really weird to look at a story and think "ah it could be this person, but that wouldn't be a satisfying conclusion, and this person is an OBvious choice and so therefore will HAVE to be a red herring.. " only to then have those ideas explicitly expounded upon by the narrator of the story. How can your review a book that it reviewing itself?!
Events in the unpublished fiction, tend to echo events that are unfolding in the story of the Editor, and it starts to get blurry in places and you wonder how much of what is going on is conspiracy, how much is causal, and how much is coincidental.
Amongst this stuff, conversations in the "real world" (of the book) feel like self-criticisms of the genre as a whole, and of the book itself. I can't help but feel THIS book is just trying to be clever, but it leaves me holding a handful of messy hints that the author of THIS book, feels like writing murder mysteries is a practice of making a product that sells well, rather than being good literature.
I did like the Disability narratives in the book. There is a person who is considered despicable for thinking of Down Syndrome as a disease, a person who has to deal with vision loss (and Audiobooks), and several characters with terminal illnesses.
It was kind of fun, but I was listening at 125% speed, which probably says a lot about the drawn out pace of the book and my desire to get it finished rather than actually enjoying the content. For that, I did have a couple of YUSS! moments where I had predicted things accurately or big reveals that felt fairly rewarding. Maybe if you like these sorts of books more you would get more out of it. It does feel quite like a Midsomer Murders story, with word puzzles in it.
This story is meta as füc# .. the main character is an Editor who is reading the last work of a murder mystery writer. The author of the work she wishes to publish, dies with unfinished business but appears to have ended his own life.. or has he? Or is a murder mystery fan just taking off on flights of fancy and imagining herself a sleuth.
As a book reviewer.. this book is really strange to read. Every point that I recognise in story construction is explained by the main character as she tries to assess the work she is reading; it feels really weird to look at a story and think "ah it could be this person, but that wouldn't be a satisfying conclusion, and this person is an OBvious choice and so therefore will HAVE to be a red herring.. " only to then have those ideas explicitly expounded upon by the narrator of the story. How can your review a book that it reviewing itself?!
Events in the unpublished fiction, tend to echo events that are unfolding in the story of the Editor, and it starts to get blurry in places and you wonder how much of what is going on is conspiracy, how much is causal, and how much is coincidental.
Amongst this stuff, conversations in the "real world" (of the book) feel like self-criticisms of the genre as a whole, and of the book itself. I can't help but feel THIS book is just trying to be clever, but it leaves me holding a handful of messy hints that the author of THIS book, feels like writing murder mysteries is a practice of making a product that sells well, rather than being good literature.
I did like the Disability narratives in the book. There is a person who is considered despicable for thinking of Down Syndrome as a disease, a person who has to deal with vision loss (and Audiobooks), and several characters with terminal illnesses.
It was kind of fun, but I was listening at 125% speed, which probably says a lot about the drawn out pace of the book and my desire to get it finished rather than actually enjoying the content. For that, I did have a couple of YUSS! moments where I had predicted things accurately or big reveals that felt fairly rewarding. Maybe if you like these sorts of books more you would get more out of it. It does feel quite like a Midsomer Murders story, with word puzzles in it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Cancer, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Ableism, Child death, Chronic illness, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Violence, Animal death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Stalking
Minor: Pedophilia and Cursing
sea_tea_books's review against another edition
mysterious
4.0
Interesting structure — a mystery wrapped in a mystery — although that makes this quite a long one. I enjoyed the setting of the first part, as well as the Agatha Christie/Poirot vibes.
[Book club pick for November 2023]
4 ⭐
[Book club pick for November 2023]
4 ⭐
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Pedophilia and Homophobia
uhhlexiconic's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-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
3.5
The choice to include two mysteries allowed Horowitz to explore writing and the genre well, but I was rather more invested in the "fictional" mystery over the "real one", and getting the ending to the fictional one 200 pages after the last one dampened some of my enjoyment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder