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adventurous
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
AUDIOBOOK: 3.5 ⭐️. The plot itself is nothing spectacular but I found the protagonist appealing and the story held my interest. Recommend.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Best thriller I’ve read this year! Thoroughly enjoyed it and could hardly put it down.
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
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:
No
This book lit up a lot of red lights for me. Some things to consider in a good book are if the female characters are normal, and if each page of the story is written to tell a story. I can confidently say that this book does not meet either mark. The main character, Jacintha Cross, often referred to as Jack, is a strong and confident woman who is a contract pen tester. However, despite all this, she is written as a dramatic and somehow helpless woman who has her whole world shattered by the murder of her husband.
Now, don't get me wrong. I do absolutely think that she deserves to mourn and that I would be even worse off if someone dear to me had been brutally murdered. But Jack's character comes off uncharacteristically helpless and she is not written as a believable woman with real-life convictions. She is not treated normally and is instead this ideal tragic widow who somehow has all the kick-ass to pursue her husband's murderers while also fighting off septicemia and ruminating on his thick, sexy beard.
The other aspect of this story that fell flat was that there was so much of the story that was unnecessary. Parts were often repeated (Jack remembers two separate times, in almost the same manner, that she has not told her sister about the insurance policy), world building was not strong, and "hints" were terribly obvious. A page should be intentional and meaningful, and if you can skip multiple pages and still understand what is happening in the story, then you have failed at world building. This happens throughout the story and makes for an extremely unpleasant reading experience.
To elaborate a bit on the obviousness of the story, almost as soon as Cole was introduced, it was obvious he was behind the murder. The attempts to sprinkle in a horrid man like Jeff was too obvious and only made Cole an even bigger suspect. The other side characters in the story are also odd, describing minor appearances like Lucius in great detail only for him to be present for only three pages. In addition to this, it felt like Helen, the sister, was written in to be a convenient out for any issues. As soon as Jack runs into any problems, Helen mysteriously has fixes for everything and does anything to make it work.
All in all, this is not a story I would recommend to anyone. It feels as though much of it was written because there was a word count Ruth Ware had to hit, and so the bulk of the writing is not interesting and is very repetitive. There is no compelling story and there is no connection you feel to any of the characters to make them likable. If you want to spend a couple hours reading a mediocre and poorly-written book, be my guest, but I would opt for something else to make better use of your time.
Now, don't get me wrong. I do absolutely think that she deserves to mourn and that I would be even worse off if someone dear to me had been brutally murdered. But Jack's character comes off uncharacteristically helpless and she is not written as a believable woman with real-life convictions. She is not treated normally and is instead this ideal tragic widow who somehow has all the kick-ass to pursue her husband's murderers while also fighting off septicemia and ruminating on his thick, sexy beard.
The other aspect of this story that fell flat was that there was so much of the story that was unnecessary. Parts were often repeated (Jack remembers two separate times, in almost the same manner, that she has not told her sister about the insurance policy), world building was not strong, and "hints" were terribly obvious. A page should be intentional and meaningful, and if you can skip multiple pages and still understand what is happening in the story, then you have failed at world building. This happens throughout the story and makes for an extremely unpleasant reading experience.
To elaborate a bit on the obviousness of the story, almost as soon as Cole was introduced, it was obvious he was behind the murder. The attempts to sprinkle in a horrid man like Jeff was too obvious and only made Cole an even bigger suspect. The other side characters in the story are also odd, describing minor appearances like Lucius in great detail only for him to be present for only three pages. In addition to this, it felt like Helen, the sister, was written in to be a convenient out for any issues. As soon as Jack runs into any problems, Helen mysteriously has fixes for everything and does anything to make it work.
All in all, this is not a story I would recommend to anyone. It feels as though much of it was written because there was a word count Ruth Ware had to hit, and so the bulk of the writing is not interesting and is very repetitive. There is no compelling story and there is no connection you feel to any of the characters to make them likable. If you want to spend a couple hours reading a mediocre and poorly-written book, be my guest, but I would opt for something else to make better use of your time.
adventurous
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No