Reviews

Interesting start to a series. It almost felt like I missed a book as the past of the detective was referenced a few times throughout the book, but not so much that it was confusing. It was a good hook because I want to know what happened.
The main mystery seemed simple on the surface, but proved much deeper and I liked the fact the the story had more too it than mystery. It was really about relationships, history, and family both blood and found family.
Great for those who like multiple POV and characters which are not always reliable narrators.

bethjordahl's review against another edition

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challenging dark inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The first chapter or two were hard to get into and the cast of characters is large and tricky to keep track of at the beginning. But Inspector Garmande wins you over! It felt the same as a cozy mystery show, just in book format.

ec_258's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

kaimo007's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

bhnmt61's review against another edition

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4.0

Louise Penny's writing style is so odd that I almost didn't make it past the first 35 pages of this book. I'm glad I persevered, but the oddness continued throughout. There were some eye-rolling-ly bad metaphors, some truly clunky armchair philosophizing, and the denouement--the scene where several characters hash out why the murder happened once the murderer is known--was seriously awkward. There was also a throwaway line from Gamache right at the end that was unbelievably, jarringly out of character from the way he had been described in the rest of the book.

Spoiler

Also, although I was pretty sure who the murderer was from about the halfway point, I didn't really understand his motive--he was covering up a previous murder, but the reader had already been told that the previous murder wouldn't have been prosecuted.

But I did enjoy it, once I got over her odd writing style and got immersed in the story. Still Life is Penny's first novel, so I'm willing to cut her some slack. For every bad metaphor, there was an inspired one. For every bit of manipulative plotting, there was something that felt exactly right. There were even two separate times that I laughed out loud at clever lines, and that almost never happens anymore. I suspect that much of what felt like vague, foggy character backstories was done on purpose to set up future installments in the series, and although I don't exactly like that, I'm definitely intrigued enough to read the next one.

jess_rawr's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

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