Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus

26 reviews

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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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

4.0

This book feels different from McManus's other books, and I think it might actually be my favorite of hers this far. There are still lots of twists and turns that keep you guessing as you delve into the mystery, and I liked the heist aspect of the story. It was well-developed and made for an interesting plot.

Fans of McManus will definitely enjoy her latest installment.
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novelsally's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
  • 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? No

3.25

Well I didn't guess the ending!  I'm not sure if I ended up liking how everything came together but I did like the heist bits.  Some of the reasoning and choice making were questionable, I'm not sure if I'd agree that 16-17 year old's are that inconsistent.
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velkeyta's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Karen M. McManus NEVER misses, I was so invested.
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bmceleney's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I guess when people are “tools,” all that matters is what they can do for you.

Karen McManus, the queen of young adult mysteries, is back with a mystery that is quite different from her other books. The whole plot isn’t wrapped around a murder. *gasp* Instead, we have an Ocean’s Eleven type book, which is really becoming my favorite type of mystery to read these days. 

Cast of Characters: 
  • Kat: a teenager who isn’t supposed to be following her mom’s last heist job but figured out a way to smuggle herself there regardless. 
  • Jamie: Kat’s mother who is a jewel thief but wants out. She agrees to do this last job and then she’s cleaning herself up.
  • Ross Sutherland: the billionaire who is having a birthday party. Scene of the jewel heist.
  • Luke: A con man who makes up sob stories about him and his “young” son to get money out of unsuspecting women. Has his romantic claws in Ross Sutherland’s daughter. Was married to Jamie for 48 hours.
  • Liam: Luke’s teenage son who hates everything about Luke but ends up at the birthday party of Ross Sutherland so he can meet the new woman his father is interested in.

All of these characters end up in the same location one weekend. When a member of the Sutherland family ends up dead, no one knows who to trust. Jamie is sick and Kat doesn’t know who she can trust and the only person she feels she can turn to is Liam. Can she trust him?

While this was different from McManus’ other mystery books, I did still enjoy it. As expected with McManus, there were plenty of twists and turns so I wasn’t sure how things were going to pan out. I personally also enjoyed there were only two POVs to keep track of - sometimes I can get lost when there’s more than three characters telling the story. For whatever reason in this story I couldn’t keep everyone’s names straight so I kept mixing up who was who. That definitely impacted my enjoyment of the book. I do think teenagers are going to enjoy this book!
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lea3141's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced
  • 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

2.0

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lochnessvhs's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

4.5

Karen M. McManus really said "all straight men are monsters".
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arireadsitall's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I am a huge Karen M McManus fan and this one was just as captivating as her others! Multiple pov centered around a heist with a whole lot of family drama. This one is close to 400 pages but I sped through it. I will say this one felt darker and more violent than her others (big dv warning) but these characters are so compelling and you really want to root for them 
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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

   This is one of her better ones! I found it less predictable, but I'm sure some people saw the main villain coming, I didn't however. There were enough villains that it was hard to tell who was truly evil and who wasn't. 
   There was a diversity in sexuality, with one bi/pan character, and one gay main character. But no diversity in the race of the characters, who were all white.
    Overall, I found it enjoyable, though a bit darker than the author's other books. The MCs were likable but a lot of the lesser characters weren't. 


Narrator(s) Rating: 4.5 stars
   The narrators did an excellent job. They could have used a bit more vocal differences to characters for a 5-star rating. 
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lauraelovesbooks's review against another edition

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

3.5

There were a few times in the first 50% of this book that I seriously considered DNFing it. I didn’t feel connected to the characters and was not intrigued by the plot. I decided to keep reading and was happy to see that it did get better.

For me I think the first 60% would be a 2.5-3 🌟 and the last 40% a 4.5🌟

Not my favourite book from the author but I was pleasantly surprised how everything came together! 
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