Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer

10 reviews

mornshadow's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Violence

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

wowsmeows's review

funny mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

"I've never been good at striking
up conversations with
strangers, especially the opposite sex. I needed to come up with a suitable opening line. I knew what would work for me if the roles were reversed - something like: 'Do you prefer even or uneven surfaces?' 'Do you wish that Sports Direct also sold fresh meat?' 'Have you ever needed to use a tourniquet in your work environment?' "

The Satsuma Complex follows the story of Gary, a man who meets up with a friend for a pint and then accidentally gets caught up in their subsequent disappearance. This is not a crime thriller by any means, but it does have some suspense, mystery, a touch of romance and a really solid plot.

I really enjoyed this book, there were many laugh out loud moments. I listened to the audiobook and there were times you could almost hear Bob smiling at the jokes. Wonderful. Sally Phillips was equally fantastic as always.  If you're a fan of Bob Mortimer's crazy humour from his many WILTY appearances, I'd definitely recommend giving this a go.

That being said, there are some darker moments in the book, but overall it was a delight to read.

Shout out to one of my favourite quotes:
"dogs sharing an interest in a spillage (I imagine the dogs are called Zak Briefcase and Lengthy Parsnips)."

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

morgcxn's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

2.0

I love Bob Mortimer, but this was not it at all...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Police brutality

carolined's review against another edition

lighthearted fast-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? It's complicated

1.0

This is a terrible book with terrible dialogue. Imagine the class clown when you were 14 who would do all sorts of disgusting things for attention and say random things and make the same joke over and over and misuse words. Now imagine they are trying to impress you. This book should never have been published. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, and Alcohol

laurataylor's review

adventurous fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

emmagalt's review

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Murder

lottselgar's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

bookforthought's review

mysterious 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

2.0

I love a good mystery (even though I don't read that many anymore), and even more so if any humour is promised so The Satsuma Complex sounded like just the book for me. I received a sampler from NetGalley (although I hadn't immediately realised it wasn't the full copy) and finished listening to it on audiobook on Storytel.

I'm not too familiar with Bob Mortimer and his brand of humour, so I wasn't really sure what to expect from this, but I was in the mood for a light read and to switch it up a little after lots of fantasy books. Unfortunately, this didn't really meet my expectations.

The premise was quite good and I liked the mystery aspect of it, though I won't go into any details to avoid spoilers. I tend to like stories where we don't really know which characters we can trust, and there was plenty of that going on here. However, for the most part, the characters just felt flat. I definitely appreciated the attempt at introducing a wide and varied cast, and there certainly were some colourful characters in there, but to me, they all felt very one-dimensional and I never actually started caring about any of them, which meant the stakes were very low whenever any amount of danger was involved.

I found the main character to be very annoying and... well, just not funny. I did like his relationship with his neighbour Grace and her dog, which I found wholesome and sweet, but he didn't really have much else going for him. I found it very hard to get through the book and was bored for the most part. I really only finished it because it wasn't overly long and I wanted to see if it would improve when everything wrapped up. The ending itself was good, but it didn't really make up for the rest.

This is by no means a bad book; if anything, I found it fairly average, just like Gary: not anonymous, but not memorable either. It probably just wasn't my kind of humour and others may like it a lot more, but this one just wasn't for me.

I received an advanced review copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Violence and Kidnapping

Minor: Gun violence, Police brutality, and Murder

nataliecatalie's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-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? Yes

5.0

especially delightful to hear bob read the book! a nice, light-hearted read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Police brutality

Minor: Suicide

feebles640's review against another edition

funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Police brutality

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Minor: Gun violence and Injury/Injury detail