Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Undetectables

Totally loved this book. It sets up a series and leaves you asking questions, but it makes me excited for the next installment.

This book scratches a weird crossover itch with paranormal books and mystery books with a murder being solved by a group of three witches. I loved each one of the main characters so much even if they all have their flaws. Mallory's chronic pain makes her understandably cranky in some representation I loved, because it's truly difficult to be peppy all the time, especially with chronic pain. Diana is truly loveable with plenty of ex-girlfriends but the kind of friend to give tough love when it's needed. Cornelia experiences privileges with wealth and power and understands that systems are often unfair while also trying to battle some injustices while they try to solve murders.
I loved this book, and while the mystery isn't technically overly complicated the added magic mixed with science adds another layer to the mystery and makes it fresh and compelling.

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fionamclary's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was funny and full of heart. I loved our main characters and especially related to Mallory given that a chronic illness has been increasingly disabling me for the past year and a half. I enjoyed the take on a magical culture/society that maps nicely onto the human diversity of the real world.

However, I found the lore to be frustratingly thin. It didn't make sense to me how many seemingly basic aspects of magic were unknown to Occulture before the events of the story

(such as spells and people being able to travel via witchlight)

, and the history of the Ternion remained vague and confusing throughout. It meant that by the end I still didn't understand what it would actually mean for someone to

summon or join the Ternion

, and what the motivation/thought process would be that would lead someone to this decision. I also felt that the details of how the

ritual murders

themselves worked were very poorly fleshed out. E.g. how does one make the

death blade

? How does it work? This was super frustrating and majorly detracted from the quality of the story. However, I think this author has a lot of potential, and I'd be intrigued if a second book happens, as the ending of this book seemed to be allowing for. There's still some mysteries unsolved!

Also, I really want a movie version now just so that Nathan Foad can play Theodore. I think that would go so hard.

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blewballoon's review

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Really struggling to rate this one, there are a lot of things I liked about it conceptually, but something also felt off the whole time. I think the dialogue sometimes didn't flow right and bent unnaturally to accommodate humor or to obfuscate a plot point. I figured out most of the pieces of the mystery really early on, and it was frustrating how much the book put those reveals off, even though I usually don't mind when that happens for me in a mystery book. It made The Undetectables seem incompetent. I appreciated the fibromyalgia representation, and I sympathize with Mallory, but I did find her hard to like from the beginning when she

lashes out at Theodore

. I loved Theodore, and Diana was pretty great as well. If there are more books in this universe I'll probably check them out. It's kind of like Halloween town for adults, which is fun, and maybe the off vibes I felt won't be as much of an issue.

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madamenovelist's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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plume_de_renarde's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

4.0

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aseel_reads's review

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adventurous funny mysterious 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

2.75

so much potential but the actual story did not deliever. the mystery element was so boring and didn't pack a punch. the magic system was also super surface level and boring? which is so heartbreaking.

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se_wigget's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Wow, what a book! I love the main characters--the Undetectables themselves, three witches and a ghost. I love the queer and disabled rep, too. Maybe the author will continue writing about the Undetectables--that would be delightful.

I've never seen the expression "arsebadger" before. I like it. Now I can say, "fascist bigot arsebadgers."

"... tradition is just peer pressure from dead people."

(p. 238)

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frecklebrows's review

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dark funny mysterious 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? No

3.75

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