Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - The Appeal

Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

19 reviews

epellicci's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

Crime and mysteries are not normally my genre, but I was intrigued by The Appeal because of Hallett's use of personal correspondence to tell the story. Told mainly through email and text conversations, The Appeal has a gossipy, TV drama feel to it which gives it fast pacing. I really enjoyed the short passages, and that information - and a feel for the communities relationships - came in pieces, correspondence by correspondence. The visual element of the book also helped to bring this to life and give the characters dimension. Hallett's writing is clever, and layers up tension and suspicion subtlety around a substantial cast of characters and leaving you beginning to suspect nothing in the village is quite what it seems. It made the book completely absorbing.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the ending. The Appeal is a web of information and its characters form a complex social hierarchy which slowly begins to break down over the course of the book. Not just a suspenseful mystery, it provides a critical look at a tight-knit community, social power, and status. However it doesn't examine how the events of the case would rock the village in its aftermath. My investment in the characters extended into their hierarchy, and as the story drew to an end and the crimes where exposed I found myself disappointed with with the way this thread of the book was cut. For me, it was one of the most interesting aspects of the story and without it the big reveal felt like it was missing something. Despite this, The Appeal is fantastically written. I read it in two sittings, totally drawn in by the daily tribe politics and unravelling scandal.

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odrib's review against another edition

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challenging funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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yuunoel's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious medium-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? Yes

1.5

(2022/03/12 - 2022/03/15)

Intriguing format.

The Appeal by Janice Hallett is a novel that is told by emails, notes, and text messages. It is certainly one of the most unique ways to tell a story.

You can tell that this book is well-thought-out. If you were to re-read this, you can find little snippets of text that allude to the murderer. Uhm anyways, that's the only good thing I can think of. ✌

It definitely is an interesting format, but it gets stale when you just read emails over and over again. Multiple times I just wanted to DNF this book. I originally wanted to make a board full of notes with the red yarn and potential suspects like in murder mystery movies, but when I found out the sheer amount of characters, I quickly stopped doing that. None of the voices are distinct enough to differentiate them apart. The story was boring. Especially in the first half. It only gets exciting around the 60% mark, but even then I thought it was too late for me to get fully invested in the storyline and the characters.

Speaking of characters... I hated them. Not one character I like. They all seem like insufferable shits and if I were to meet any of them in real life, I would run in the opposite direction. Now, don't get me wrong, I love morally grey/imperfect characters. But the thing is, there has to be at least one redeeming quality in them. Like, they could be a villain who can blow up buildings and people without a second thought, but simultaneously they are kind to animals and frequently volunteer at animals shelters??? Yes please. 🥰 You are now one of my favourite characters. None of the characters have a likable trait, and even if they did, I wouldn't know, because we can't read about their psyches. WE ONLY HAVE THE STUPID EMAILS THEY SEND TO EACH OTHER AND ALL OF US KNOW WE TEND TO ACT/SPEAK IN A DIFFERENT WAY THAN HOW WE THINK WHEN IT COMES TO OTHER PEOPLE'S PERCEPTIONS!!

I was initially going to rate this as 3 stars, but then I realized how many things I disliked about this book. The only reason I gave this 1.5 stars and not 1 was because of the notable style and the fact that it gets moving around the 60% mark. Would I re-read this? No. This will probably be one of the murder mystery novels I will not be re-reading. Would I recommend this? If you find joy by sitting through emails and picking them apart one by one.

This is the part in my reviews where I put a quote that that made me laugh (and if I can't find a funny one: a beautiful quote). There were no quotes like that 😶

- noel

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kaylasbookgram's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

This book definitely took me by surprise from the very first page. Told in email and text message format you as the reader get to read along with two lawyers to figure out who did the murder who was murdered and why. I can say I had no clue who was murdered until it was revealed and I’m still shocked on The Who dun it. I do think that it left a bit to the imagination at the end and some unanswered questions. Which was the only downfall in my eyes I don’t like to be left full of questions at the end of a book. Overall this was a fantastic debut!

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