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billorwill's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
beate251's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Rhiannon, 27, lives with her cheating boyfriend Craig and Chihuahua Tink. She hates her job and has anger management issues stemming from deep-seated childhood trauma. In her free time, she plays with Sylvanian families, walks her little dog and kills people like the unhinged psychopath and serial killer she is.
I have a penchant for female serial killers who go after bad men but she is actually trying to lure them in by walking around deserted alleys at night. She doesn't shy away from killing women, and she derives sexual pleasure from her bloodthirsty deeds. So I was quite uncomfortable reading her matter-of-fact diary entries about balancing her deadly shenanigans with meeting friends and pretending to be normal.
I have to say her daily kill lists - strangers who annoyed her that day by queue jumping, overcharging or other heinous crimes - are kind of relatable but after a while she makes very sweeping statements and I found myself on them twice ("Everyone who lives or works in London" and later "the entire human race").
Once she complains about people who make grammatical mistakes but says "me and Craig" instead of "Craig and I" all the time! Personally, that needled me greatly, but Rhiannon's thoughts and behaviour are at no point logical, as she admits herself. For example, absolutely everyone who manages to lock two in-flagrante rapists in a van would drive that van to the nearest police station. But not her. Oh no. She finds a much more deranged but ever so entertaining solution.
I actually felt sorry for her a few times about how utterly unhappy she seems to be. But instead of throwing her boyfriend out (she knows all about the affair) or changing her job she gets her kicks by killing people. At the end, the tally I counted was 11 people, two of them historic. That's a lot! You need a strong stomach for this book - the gory stuff often comes out of nowhere. She also swears like a whole ship full of sailors.
Despite all this I was kind of mesmerised and read this twisted, deeply gripping and darkly funny tale as fast as I could. It's brilliantly written but dare I say 100 pages too long, especially as this is only the first of five books in this series. The cliffhanger makes me want to read the next one NOW because I must know how she gets out of the situation she is in - pregnant and just about to hack her dead lover to pieces when the doorbell goes!
"How many men does it take to tile a bathroom? One – but only if you slice him veeeeery thinly."
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Miscarriage
read_a_lottie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Murder
frogggirl2's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book just keeps doing the same things over and over, and her narrative voice doesn't change, so it's just really tiring to read this un-pc, fat phobic, agist, condescending, judgemental POV for 450 pages.
She tells so many unnecessary lies, and it's frustratingly ludicrous that she wouldn't get called on them. Especially when she's lying to a journalist - why make up a lie that you could easily disprove with a google search? The book letting the character get away with this undermines the believability of the book overall.
I wanted to like this - it's occasionally funny, and she's mostly hunting rapists and pedophiles so there's a justified revenge element. Ultimately, although it was a quick, easy read, there was nothing memorable here, and it wasn't as funny as it was grating and unrealistic.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
taggy96's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Murder
katndrsn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Infertility, Vomit, and Abortion
bees_knees735's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy
sumo98's review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
book_lover707's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment
frannydo's review
Graphic: Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder