Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Nature of the Beast

I’m a sucker for the Gamache novels as audiobooks. This one is a bit darker than some of the others, looking at an old case involving a serial killer, but it still delivers the classic Three Pines charm and insightful commentary on grief, human experience, and the bookish introvert’s platonic ideal of a lazy Saturday.

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simply_fran's review against another edition

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dark lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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tarajoy90's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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knit_the_resistance's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.75

Le Sigh. I loved the first Three Pines books which were engrossing because they were relatable. As the series has expanded, Louise Penny has invented ever more outrageous, bizarre scenarios. This is her darkest book yet with a truly appalling villain (imagine if Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill had a baby together and raised it with both of their worst qualities). But he's not even the worst part of the book. Several times I had to put the book down and message people from my Ologies book group to reassure me that it was going to be ok.
The reason it is 3.75 and not 4.0 is that the killer is so obscure that it feels like a last minute implausible "Oh wait, I forgot to wrap up the reason I started the whole book."

the huge plot point? the giant "gun" in the woods (why didn't she call it a missile launcher? is that a Canadian thing?) that part is true. Listen to the afterword.

Content Warnings