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abbey_road's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
cindy_freez's review against another edition
4.0
A Slow Fire Burning
I thought Ms. Hawkins wrote quite the ambitious novel. The story starts off with the brutal murder of Daniel in his houseboat. Laura was identified as someone fleeing the area with blood on her clothes. She has quite the interesting back story. At a young age, Laura was in a hit-and-run accident and suffers from physical and mental disabilities. She’s used to being blamed for things.
There are many complex characters whose lives inter-connect in some way. We get all their perspectives. So part of the mystery is “Who killed Daniel?”
There’s novelist Theo and his ex-wife Carla- years ago, their son Ben died in a tragic fall while under the charge of her sister Angela. Daniel is Angela’s son.
Irene is an elderly widow who employs Laura to help her around the house and deliver groceries to her. Irene is Angela’s neighbor.
Miriam is a woman who delivers books and has keen observational skills, the nosy neighbor type. She has some secrets and has it in for one of the other characters.
There are also an array of subplots, such as plagiarism, kidnapping, incest, sexual assault and petty theft. A book within a book is thrown into the story. It depicts an event that occurred to one of these characters, and we get flashbacks of that.
I thought the plotting was very good, and the characters were interesting (some quite despicable). I felt Hawkins captured the emotions really well. Maybe there was just a little too much to keep track of. I felt there was a lot of back and forth. Irene makes a remark about Theo’s book, “all that jumping around in the timeline …just start at the beginning for God’s sake. Why couldn’t people tell a story straight any longer, from start to finish?” I had to snicker at that. But it was suspenseful and the ending was very satisfying.
I thought Ms. Hawkins wrote quite the ambitious novel. The story starts off with the brutal murder of Daniel in his houseboat. Laura was identified as someone fleeing the area with blood on her clothes. She has quite the interesting back story. At a young age, Laura was in a hit-and-run accident and suffers from physical and mental disabilities. She’s used to being blamed for things.
There are many complex characters whose lives inter-connect in some way. We get all their perspectives. So part of the mystery is “Who killed Daniel?”
There’s novelist Theo and his ex-wife Carla- years ago, their son Ben died in a tragic fall while under the charge of her sister Angela. Daniel is Angela’s son.
Irene is an elderly widow who employs Laura to help her around the house and deliver groceries to her. Irene is Angela’s neighbor.
Miriam is a woman who delivers books and has keen observational skills, the nosy neighbor type. She has some secrets and has it in for one of the other characters.
There are also an array of subplots, such as plagiarism, kidnapping, incest, sexual assault and petty theft. A book within a book is thrown into the story. It depicts an event that occurred to one of these characters, and we get flashbacks of that.
I thought the plotting was very good, and the characters were interesting (some quite despicable). I felt Hawkins captured the emotions really well. Maybe there was just a little too much to keep track of. I felt there was a lot of back and forth. Irene makes a remark about Theo’s book, “all that jumping around in the timeline …just start at the beginning for God’s sake. Why couldn’t people tell a story straight any longer, from start to finish?” I had to snicker at that. But it was suspenseful and the ending was very satisfying.
lydsomtimesreads's review
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.75
qwisten's review
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-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
3.0
goddess_eve21's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
I listened to the audio while following along in my physical copy ...
I have to say that the beginning had me intrigued, so I was invested in finding out what was going on. So, it definitely had "one more chapter" effect.
It changed midway through ...
The flow became slow and, therefore, lost me.
One thing I also could not get into was the way the chapters were written in different POV, but it was not addressed by the chapter whose POV it was on.
I believe if it did have POVs listed, it would have been a bit better.
However, the plot and subplots were too many and not enough for them *if that makes sense.
Too much was going on, and the flow just was not there to make it fluid and coherent.
I was also not a fan of the ending 🤷🏽♀️
I have to say that the beginning had me intrigued, so I was invested in finding out what was going on. So, it definitely had "one more chapter" effect.
It changed midway through ...
The flow became slow and, therefore, lost me.
One thing I also could not get into was the way the chapters were written in different POV, but it was not addressed by the chapter whose POV it was on.
I believe if it did have POVs listed, it would have been a bit better.
However, the plot and subplots were too many and not enough for them *if that makes sense.
Too much was going on, and the flow just was not there to make it fluid and coherent.
I was also not a fan of the ending 🤷🏽♀️
goddess_eve21's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
I listened to the audio while following along in my physical copy ...
I have to say that the beginning had me intrigued, so I was invested in finding out what was going on. So, it definitely had "one more chapter" effect.
It changed midway through ...
The flow became slow and, therefore, lost me.
One thing I also could not get into was the way the chapters were written in different POV, but it was not addressed by the chapter whose POV it was on.
I believe if it did have POVs listed, it would have been a bit better.
However, the plot and subplots were too many and not enough for them *if that makes sense.
Too much was going on, and the flow just was not there to make it fluid and coherent.
I was also not a fan of the ending 🤷🏽♀️
I have to say that the beginning had me intrigued, so I was invested in finding out what was going on. So, it definitely had "one more chapter" effect.
It changed midway through ...
The flow became slow and, therefore, lost me.
One thing I also could not get into was the way the chapters were written in different POV, but it was not addressed by the chapter whose POV it was on.
I believe if it did have POVs listed, it would have been a bit better.
However, the plot and subplots were too many and not enough for them *if that makes sense.
Too much was going on, and the flow just was not there to make it fluid and coherent.
I was also not a fan of the ending 🤷🏽♀️
taliesin_hastings's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
littlelifeofbooks's review
2.0
The amount of times this plot changed into many different sub plots... Oh no. This wasn’t for me. I’m afraid the only reason why I didn’t DNF this one was because of the author. I really think she is a good writer. But I really believed by the end I wouldn’t be let down. It’s not even that it wasn’t a good ending, it was fine. It’s the fact that the entire story just weaves in and out continuously without holding my interest. I was also so confused a majority of the time.
The characters in this were also really hard to like. I can’t think of one character I liked. Maybe the dog… but then, you know.
The characters in this were also really hard to like. I can’t think of one character I liked. Maybe the dog… but then, you know.
sannevoudenaren's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0