Reviews tagging 'Child death'

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

14 reviews

esv_'s review

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? No

4.0


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awxhhlilla's review

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adventurous dark funny informative lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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robin_reads's review against another edition

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dark funny tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

The first third was really good, the next part dragged on forever and the last bit was pretty interesting and a plot twist I didn't quite expect.
Pretty sure the ending is left this vague because there will be a sequel? Who knows.

The audiobook narrator for Grace's part made me furious at times. They would take a breath or swallow in the middle of the sentence, take odd breaks and so on. It was really annoying. 

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livimarie's review

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dark emotional 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

4.0


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introverted_reads's review

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dark funny fast-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? It's complicated

3.5


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risemini's review

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dark funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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annabulkowski's review

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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


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blackbeeomalley's review

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

2.0

So much potential. The plot dragged, page long paragraphs of inane detail, no character development, and lack of tension with the murders. 

The ending felt rushed and was out of the blue no matter how much Mackie tried to pepper in hints.

Main character, Grace, was written to be unlikeable but I believe Mackie forgot that you can add complexities to unlikeable characters. As others had said disdain is not a personality. I really didn’t care about her character - I didn’t want her to succeed or fail I just didn’t care. 

In all, it felt that Mackie had a great idea and half way gave up - wasn’t sure how to pull this off. I really struggled to get to the end of this.

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jennifer1130's review

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slow-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've likely judged this book more harshly that I might otherwise because of the heavy pushing of this book to me via social media adverts by the publisher. Having said that the absolutely max it deserves is 3 stars on a good day.

What a disappointment. The premise of this book is interesting, killing your whole family for revenge but there is nothing clever nor interesting about this story. Instead it trawls laboriously through dull plot and follows the format of basic intro to, this is how I killed person 1, this is how I killed person 2, person 3 etc. With a few brief flip backs to the present day where the main character Grace is in prison and is writing her diary style story. The diary style story really irritated me with its 'need to go now' endings. Who has time to write that in a diary when there's something you actually need to go for??

I didn't really believe at any point that I was in the mind of someone capable of killing 6 people. It felt like a fictional story. A highly unlikely one. The particular low point involved an uncle in a sex club while Grace rants about feminism and the privilege of the white man. 

I have no idea how this book got such a big marketing budget. It's just cheap throwaway rubbish. Such a shame. I just expected and needed more.

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booksandcat's review

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adventurous dark funny reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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