Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano

24 reviews

elizabethgreads's review

funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

The ending was laugh out loud funny. It was a little less fun than the first book but still a great time. I loved seeing Finlay's and Vero's relationship grow. I liked seeing their ingenuity. It was less sheer dumb luck and more investigative than the first book which made for a nice reading experience.

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brandie_abbie19's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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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emilywemily6's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious 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

3.5

Just like the first book in the series, the beginning dragged on for me. And I have a hard time relating to Finlay even though I am a mom with a toddler because I feel like she makes a ton of choices that get her into unnecessary trouble. I have a hard time suspending my disbelief reading this book, but when I can, I really enjoy it. The story is kooky with lots of unexpected turns, which keep me coming back to find out what happens next.

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pernillelsk's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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? Yes

3.25

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hazelgirl21's review

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

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caughtbetweenpages's review against another edition

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funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This was a fun sequel to the first book in this series, though I think the suspension of disbelief ratcheted up significantly in this volume. It gets harder to believe all the hitwoman, forum for

having men in your community offed

hijinks as Finlay gets deeper into actual organized crime. She can barely keep her life as a single mom and an author in order, so it takes a big stretch to imagine she could fool cops, let alone career criminals at their own game. On the other hand, I do like the discourse about women, and particularly moms, being pigeonholed into the role of Nurturer of Children Only by society at large, so there was a satisfaction to watching Finlay get underestimated by most of the men around her and just barely scraping by through that.

Finlay is easily my favorite part of this series; she's an easy character to root for, being as in over her head and yet ultimately good as she is. She definitely falls into the "relatable protagonist" bucket, but that sort of works because of the story's genre conventions. Competence at real-life crime would be too much to expect and make this comedy-thriller far less funny. I digress. Finlay is great. Her love for her children, her arc of self-assertion and self actualization despite her asshole manchild ex (even to the extent of

saving his life because as bad a husband as he was, he's actually a good father and her kids deserve that

), and her loyalty to Vero make Finlay someone I want to see succeed.

With small exceptions, the cast around her is a little charicature-ish at times so she's allowed to be less fleshed out/more Flanderized because she's still a solid character comparatively, but that's okay because this story isn't really about character exploration so much as it is about the plot. (Though the moments of in-depth characterization we DO get play against this idea; Finlay has some Opinions about

Theresa and Aimee, and ends up recognizing in the two of them a depth of relationship and a ride-or-die-ness akin to the sort she has with Vero. Aimee literally helps Theresa bury a dismembered body and escape her house arrest.

I was happy to see that, because dismantling the idea that women can be typecast as just one thing is one of the best parts of this series for me.)

All that said, gripes about suspension of disbelief and characters aside, I think what really took this book down a notch from the previous for me was the romance angle. I'm not a fan of cop love interests, or pushy love interests who "won't take no for an answer," so the blend of the two in Nick the Shithead was Not It for me. He seemed like a greater threat to Finlay during their ostensibly romantic moments than Felix the Literal Mob Boss did... ever. And Felix killed people. I don't know that I preferred Julian the Law Student to Detective Shithead by any wide margin, but at least he knows when to back off when Finn tells him to. Frankly, I think this series as a whole would be best served by Finlay being happily single or taking it super slow with Julian instead of cuffed to either these guys (but especially Nick.) (Frankly, her relationship with Vero is more developed than either of the romantic relationships.)

I'll be reading the third to close of the trilogy for sure!

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