Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Girl Before: Sie war wie du. Und jetzt ist sie tot. by JP Delaney

26 reviews

born_reading's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Mental illness, Abortion, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Cursing

khanyisile13's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This was so nearly a five star book! So close! The writing is insanely clever, for one person to think up this story? Insanity. I don’t know what I expected going into it, but certainly not this. The story is really good at manipulating even the reader’s feelings. I was gobsmacked to find out the main twist. The dual timeline worked really well in the story’s favour, and I think the characters were believable.

I even think Emma’s dedication to victimhood is believable, even though it was the biggest plot twist that scrambled my brain for a good hour or so. It made me realize that it’s entirely possible for people to think this way, because they do. And often white women, like Emma, get away with it. Because it’s all just a game to them. Manipulation is a game they’re so good at winning. 

The reason it doesn’t get a five stars is because of its depictions of Black people. There are only two obviously Black people in this story, and they’re both stereotypes of what white people have typically expected from Black people. And I think that’s a shame. Then the second reason is that I understand that thrillers have a history of

pinning things on mental health disorders, and driving a fear of people experiencing mental illness, and I think that’s problematic.

I think it would be fine and dandy to just explain that these are terrible people. Because they are. Delaney didn’t have to add that aspect into it, or he could have found a way to add it in while still being cautious of what the reader will take away. He’s a talented writer and if he could think up THOSE twists,

he could easily find a way to make sure that the reader doesn’t find people with mental health disorders inherently dangerous.

Overall, a really excellently told twisty story. I read it in a weekend, which is insane because I’m a slow reader. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, and Violence

jsmittyx's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Sexual content, Animal death, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Stalking, Abortion, Violence, Child death, Pregnancy, Murder, and Death

thanksiberia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.25

First half was promising, but after that the book tried to be too many things and in the end didn't work for me. I also didn't like (not entirely sure why) that the author is male. Perhaps I don't like men writing about men killing vulnerable women.....

Also, this one goes in the stack of books with an unnecessary depiction of

dead cat

. Far too many CWs to list on this one, so below is 100% incomplete. Like I said, there was a bit too much going on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Stalking

cameronestridge208's review against another edition

mysterious sad fast-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child death, Rape, and Stalking

Minor: Alcohol, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Death

lillyrose97's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

cherryfer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Rape, Blood, Stalking, Cursing, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Murder, and Sexual assault

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Abortion

simkei's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Violence, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Ableism, Death, Suicide, Rape, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infidelity, Murder, and Kidnapping

Minor: Body horror and Blood

funofme's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

it was fine… i felt like the author overthought everything and now i’m left confused. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

Moderate: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

willow_21_05's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The plot. The characters. Just everything is amazing the characters development in this book is amazing. I would definately read this book again and would recommend to anyone who likes mystery books and books involving crime. In the beginning the switching between characters but I got used to this pretty quickly. If you cant get into the booktry watching the TV series (Dont know how good this is because ive only just started watching it). Overall this book was very good and there could have been a few more things to make it a 5 star read like when the characters say things it doesnt always have quotation marks and this was also confusing. It was very close to being a 5 star book but it wasnt one of my favourites but very close to it. The plot of the book just keeps getting thicker and thicker and there was always something being uncovered or trying to be figured out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Abortion, Miscarriage, Death, Rape, and Violence