Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - How to Kill Your Family

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

80 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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valegbecerra's review

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dark funny 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

1.25

The protagonist is painfully millennial. I think she was meant to be cynical but ended up being a dull hater

Things I found highly unlikely:
-A filthy rich sex club member like her uncle would think chocking is a hardcore sex kink. He strikes me as the type the type of man to find it vanilla.
-That she was able to get so close to all of them in multiple countries and no one ever recognized her. Maybe they did not but their security and staff(?) unlikely. Same thing with her brother
-That her brother writes in such a similar tone to her even tho they do not know each other, I think the autor forgot to change voices to reflect different characters. The only noticiable difference was he was just less bitter.
-That the techy teen never looked her up.

Overall a hard one to finish

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nplunkie's review

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dark funny 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? It's complicated

3.5

There are elements of this book I really loved but there are parts that really took away from my overall enjoyment of the book. The protagonist not being particularly likeable and really a bit of a “pick-me” was something I just accepted as the book went on. I didn’t love how the chapters were structured, often very long but then with the real event of the chapter only taking up a handful of pages.
The ending was what really took away from the story for me.

The whole long lost half brother who had managed to infiltrate the family is the one that ruins her plan (but also means Simon is dead without her struggling to figure out a way) just feels like a way out of coming up with an ending. It is mentioned that she feels as though she’s being watched but that is quickly brushed off and she goes about another 3 killings - hard to believe she could get away with all of those without leaving evidence but not notice a man following her

.
Overall it feels like the book had real potential but just fell a bit flat especially in the last 50 pages or so for me - interested to read more books from this author!

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ursa_arlo's review

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dark 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? No

2.5

What irritates me most about this novel is that Grace has very little she fights for, except the death of her family. She hates everything equally, bringing everything and everyone down around her with overdone sarcasm that makes it hard to get a read on what she does care about. If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for? It makes her an intolerable MC and not in a 'character you love to hate' way.

I did enjoy the first half of the book; it was interesting to read about how the murders took place, but there was no clear message to the book. Clearly, it was a not a feminist statement, nor did it make a clear statement about Grace becoming more like her father than she'd wanted. Although, I did not mind the twist as much, it was badly foreshadowed and muddied the message of the book even further.

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yellowfleeces's review against another edition

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dark funny 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? Yes

3.0

i really loved this book for the most part but then ended up skimming through the last 25% as the twist felt unnecessary and so so much detail (which the character apologised for several times, almost like a note from the author but would rather it was just trimmed down!)

would be interested to read more from bella

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kimberleyann's review

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challenging dark sad 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

3.5

I thought the first 3/4 of the book was written well, however

the ending ruined it for me, I didn’t like that it switched to the brothers perspective and then we didn’t hear anything else from the FMC

I did find the book gripping.

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natashaball's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Hugely disappointed by the twist at the end!

Would have loved it if Harry and Grace had met after their different murders, then met Lara and shared the money but then that wouldn’t have worked with Harry’s entitlement I guess

. I enjoyed Grace’s character, the planning of the different murders (although I feel that one of the murders definitely wasn’t necessary), her humour and the social commentary and I would have put 4.5 if it weren’t for that ending!

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