Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Umacı'nın Peşinde by Richard Chizmar

34 reviews

chloebear21's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

Go to review page

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? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I was enraptured by the concept of this book. The author, Richard Chizmar, has created a murder mystery story that's based on a real-life series of murders that occurred near his hometown, and has inserted himself into a fictional narrative where he has a direct connection to a key victim and their family, which ends up pulling him into being an armchair detective who has his own observations and theories about links between the victims and ideas about who could be the killer.

Surprisingly, it's not a far reach how the recent college graduate, Richard, becomes embroiled in the murder investigation. In the time between college graduation and starting a career, with a series of grisly murders impacting his hometown, he ends up writing a personal account of how he's affected and driven to investigate the murders himself and follow-up on some of his own hunches. While this is a fictional account, the book includes pictures and documents that represent characters, locations, and information sources related to the murder investigation. These additional touches really heighten the reader's investment in the story. 

I found myself liking Mr. Chizmar's writing style quite a lot. I both read the Kindle digital edition and listened to the audiobook, narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla who did a very good job with the reading of the story. While I can recommend both, it's important that the reader has either the physical or digital version of the book if they want to see the photos and documents added to enhance the experience of consuming this story.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

courtneykatzmeyer's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

nickcallebs's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jjreads331's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.0

The metafiction of this story is great, and it is what kept me going. The author clearly read into the genre and managed to create a story that confused at least half of my book group as to whether this was a real memoir or fiction. The issues that I had are with the pacing. There isn't really any denouement and I think the book needed that. One thing I really did love was the loving depictions of Maryland. I wanted to immediately go back to visit. Oh, one last nit:
the pictures included were hilarious and an excellent addition, but like HELL are those girls with their perfect 2020s middle part hair from the 80s. insert *sure jan* meme here.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

niicoleg's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.25

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

readbycarina's review against another edition

Go to review page

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

meowster's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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? No

2.0

I was really hopeful for this book. It is written like a documentary.. but it was so boring and the main character won't stop talking about himself and his life and how the murders impact him and I just didn't care. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

pich's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

2.75

i thought this book was pretty basic for a thriller. it didn’t exactly keep me on the edge of my seat, but it didn’t thoroughly bore me, either. it’s more of a 2.75-leaning towards a 3 star-rating. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mamawantsbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

Expand filter menu Content Warnings