Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

180 reviews

lottiebrooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Perfect even on a re-read. I can’t wait for the movie. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body shaming, Terminal illness, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death

quincysmom's review against another edition

4.0

funny mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder

Moderate: Child death, Fatphobia, Violence, Dementia

Minor: Body shaming, Sexism, Death of parent, Alcohol

ebp's review against another edition

3.75

funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

faithsnyder16's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous funny mysterious fast-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: No

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Excellent mystery book! The writing was very clever and engaging, and the cast of characters was rich and dimensional. At its core, this book is a cozy mystery, but more than that, it's a book about people and life. It goes beyond the typical cozy mystery by making characters that are often flat and tropes in other mystery series into people with pasts, loves, lives, and souls. Genuinely, great book. I've ordered the rest of the series, so I'm looking forward to more shenanigans from the Thursday Mystery Club.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Suicide, Dementia, Grief, Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault

hes2375's review against another edition

3.5

emotional funny mysterious reflective

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Dementia

lindzboots's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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

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Such fun, with the heart-wrenching realities of aging sprinkled in lol I absolutely adored all of these characters, and the writing was so lovely. The mystery was fun, too! Lots of fun twists and turns. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Murder

Moderate: Dementia

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy

There are two very brief moments where the readers witness the inner narrative of someone losing their grip on reality:

once is due to age

and

once is due to a drug overdose

. The rest of the time when we see dementia or the like, it's played out in other people. The main narrators do not suffer from anything more than mild memory lapses that naturally come with age.

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

2.75

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious 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: No

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I was strongly debating on DNFing at the 100 page mark. The first 40 pages are so dedicated to world-building that it failed to grip me, so it wasn't a strong start. The narrative style of the first 100 pages was very erratic, shifting perspectives and tones suddenly. The writing style was also very British, which just wasn't for me, partially because they would make references to people and things I had never heard of. There is a certain charm to this, mostly from the found family aspect, which I think is the strongest element of the book (though the focus is very mild in the first half of the book, it makes the ending more enjoyable). Of the four main characters, being in Elizabeth or Joyce's perspective was the most fun as they stood out the most. I did enjoy Ibrahim and Ron as well, though. I also thought that the friendship between the club members and the police officers, Donna and Chris, was sweet (as well as Donna and Chris's friendship). My favorite parts of the book are when all six of these characters are together. The charming silliness of the club's meddling was what kept me reading (as well as the overall renown). However, the beginning was so rocky for me that I am not sure I could fully recommend it myself. I feel somewhat similar to how I felt about Legends & Lattes: it was fine; I might continue the series if the opportunity arises, but it is not a priority. The ending had so many twists (

they really had me for a second thinking that Joyce was the murderer, which would have been good, but also would have prevented me from continuing the series if she was written out of it

). It was a bit jarring. I fluctuated my rating throughout the book: nearly DNF; then 2.5; then 3 stars towards the middle and getting towards the end; then, finally, 2.75 because all the twists and

fake-out confessions and accusations (glad that Bogdan got away with it so that we can see him in other books; he was fun in a straightforward way)

felt excessive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Murder

Moderate: Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief

Minor: Drug use, Sexism, Pregnancy

glowstickia's review against another edition

4.75

funny mysterious

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Murder

Minor: Terminal illness, Dementia, Pregnancy

noodlesny's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Deportation

kymargeaux's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I don’t know that I have ever read a book where each chapter was only a couple of pages long.  Slow start, slow drip of info about people as it goes.  Then it takes off.  I almost quit reading it because it was going so slowly.  Then the twists and turns started…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Dementia, Murder

Minor: Suicide