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adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was in the mood for a thriller and decided to pick up Ruth Ware's most recent release. The plot was a bit predictable, but the characters were memorable and distinct. Overall, this book was a decent read. Hel was my favorite character- I think she was well written.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Not her best work. required A LOT of stretching your imagination, especially for the ending.
This one hooked me in the first chapter and I didn’t want to stop listening to it!! It was gripping!! Might have to try more thriller-type books like this because it was so enjoyable. A lot of language….
I really hate giving one-star reviews to books. But this one had a lot of problems for me. I'm beginning to think that Ruth Ware just isn't my type of author.
First, a nitpick complaint. I don't necessarily mind Jacintha being shorted to "Jack" even though "Jackie" is right there. What did drive me nuts was her shortening her sister's name from "Helena" to "Hel." I don't think I've ever heard anyone calling a woman "Hel" other than in Norse mythology. Maybe if the author had cleverly used that in some way, it would've been fine. But I didn't see that in the bits I read.
The book's problems started at the very beginning for me. The book spent over twenty pages detailing Jack breaking into this company, and as a reader I had zero investment in it. We don't know why she's breaking in until she's caught, which is extra weird considering Jack is the POV character. She doesn't even comment to herself, "Wow, I better remember this for the report" or something. I think the author could have sprinkled in some clues along the way so that the reveal is still surprising, but the reader is kept invested.
It only got worse from there. I don't know how a pen test works, but wouldn't you have all your credentials in order in case you get caught? Wouldn't you have all your managers and lawyers and maybe even connections to the police in your back pocket? It read like this was Jack's first day on the job. Then once she was released, they let her drive home even knowing it was super late and she was clearly exhausted. Then they act like that first police scene never happened by her sister claiming Jack has no alibi. And it just gets more and more stupid from there. I honestly have no idea how police investigations and forensics work in the UK, but they hadn't even established time-of-death before they considered arresting Jack.
Speaking of Jack, she has to be one of the dumbest protagonists I've read in a while. She's told multiple times to secure a lawyer but doesn't. Then once she asks for one, she leaves the police station before the lawyer can get there! She breaks back into her house, which at this point has been deemed a crime scene, and contaminates the entire environment--likely ruining clues that could have led police to the killer. Another proof that she's terrible at her job: her sister has the worst security imaginable. All her passwords are really simple and easy to crack.
I had to stop reading when the author name-dropped book titles and various authors. I'm a big reader and I didn't know all the titles she listed. It would've been better to just write: "I looked over Gabe's bookshelf, skipping over his many sci-fi novels as I searched." In one sentence that establishes what kind of books he reads and that he enjoys the genre. Also, unless those other books and authors are important somehow, it just read like she was flexing her literary knowledge or pandering to a book-nerd crowd.
I skipped around to the ending. To be fair, my initial guess at who did it was wrong, but as the actual murderer was one of the few other characters given attention, it wasn't surprising. I had to roll my eyes a little at Jack's ultimate fate. It's such a cliche to end things like that with a young widow. I get some people like the bittersweet feel of it, but I think it's overused.
I like to end my reviews on something positive. This book did introduce me to pen tests, which is something I never heard of before. So good on the book for teaching me something!
First, a nitpick complaint. I don't necessarily mind Jacintha being shorted to "Jack" even though "Jackie" is right there. What did drive me nuts was her shortening her sister's name from "Helena" to "Hel." I don't think I've ever heard anyone calling a woman "Hel" other than in Norse mythology. Maybe if the author had cleverly used that in some way, it would've been fine. But I didn't see that in the bits I read.
The book's problems started at the very beginning for me. The book spent over twenty pages detailing Jack breaking into this company, and as a reader I had zero investment in it. We don't know why she's breaking in until she's caught, which is extra weird considering Jack is the POV character. She doesn't even comment to herself, "Wow, I better remember this for the report" or something. I think the author could have sprinkled in some clues along the way so that the reveal is still surprising, but the reader is kept invested.
It only got worse from there. I don't know how a pen test works, but wouldn't you have all your credentials in order in case you get caught? Wouldn't you have all your managers and lawyers and maybe even connections to the police in your back pocket? It read like this was Jack's first day on the job. Then once she was released, they let her drive home even knowing it was super late and she was clearly exhausted. Then they act like that first police scene never happened by her sister claiming Jack has no alibi. And it just gets more and more stupid from there. I honestly have no idea how police investigations and forensics work in the UK, but they hadn't even established time-of-death before they considered arresting Jack.
Speaking of Jack, she has to be one of the dumbest protagonists I've read in a while. She's told multiple times to secure a lawyer but doesn't. Then once she asks for one, she leaves the police station before the lawyer can get there! She breaks back into her house, which at this point has been deemed a crime scene, and contaminates the entire environment--likely ruining clues that could have led police to the killer. Another proof that she's terrible at her job: her sister has the worst security imaginable. All her passwords are really simple and easy to crack.
I had to stop reading when the author name-dropped book titles and various authors. I'm a big reader and I didn't know all the titles she listed. It would've been better to just write: "I looked over Gabe's bookshelf, skipping over his many sci-fi novels as I searched." In one sentence that establishes what kind of books he reads and that he enjoys the genre. Also, unless those other books and authors are important somehow, it just read like she was flexing her literary knowledge or pandering to a book-nerd crowd.
I skipped around to the ending. To be fair, my initial guess at who did it was wrong, but as the actual murderer was one of the few other characters given attention, it wasn't surprising. I had to roll my eyes a little at Jack's ultimate fate. It's such a cliche to end things like that with a young widow. I get some people like the bittersweet feel of it, but I think it's overused.
I like to end my reviews on something positive. This book did introduce me to pen tests, which is something I never heard of before. So good on the book for teaching me something!
challenging
dark
tense
medium-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
A fun read but does get a bit frustrating reading about the main character's choices as the story unfolds. She is resilient, I'll give her that!
This book wasn’t for me and I put it down for a long time before coming back to it and honestly skimmed through most of the last half and still fully got the gist of what was happening. I almost didn’t pick the book back up. It was way longer than it needed to be and I didn’t find a lot suspense happening (just a lot of length describing). Her last few books were misses for me as well (the older titles were so good). I may be taking a break from her new works for the time being.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
Definitely not my favorite Ruth Ware. The tech side was different and interesting. I did like the main character but there were so many unrealistic things happening and I just didn’t enjoy it. Kept waiting for a twist that never came. Guessed who was involved right away. Just ok, for me.
adventurous
emotional
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Pregnancy