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lauren_shilling's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book was certainly an experience to read. It's a thriller, and I have to say, it definitely thrilled me! It is so good! The atmosphere was amazing, the characters were amazing, and I really enjoyed this book! It kind of reminded me of We Were Liars/Family of Liars, except an adult thriller, and I mean that in a very good way! Each of the characters were so complex and so interesting to learn more and more about as the story and flashbacks unfolded. I think the ones who were most interesting for me to learn more and more about were Rose, Conor, and, of course, Daisy. They were such interesting people, and they felt so real. All of the characters felt real, but those three in particular felt very real. There isn't much I outright disliked, but I think I'm not going to give it the full four stars because some parts did drag a bit more than others for me, and while there was certainly mystery as to who was doing all of this, there wasn't a lot of consideration of the motives each member of the family might have had, which is something that I do tend to really enjoy in stories like this. However, overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Blood and Alcoholism
Minor: Animal death
blewballoon's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- 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
3.0
This wasn't quite what I was expecting. Yes, it's a locked room mystery type story where a group of people are trapped somewhere and they start dying one by one. Like some others stories with that premise, the people are mostly bad and hard to sympathize with, which makes their deaths seem less tragic. In this case, we also get loads of backstory from Daisy's perspective that seems to want to round out the characters of the family members and give them a little more depth, but ultimately still remind you that they are terrible people. I kind of want to re-read the story after the big reveal at the end, because it frames things in a very different light, but I didn't like the book enough to go through it twice. If you are looking for a thriller, this might be a little too slow paced for you. If you are looking for a spooky Halloween read (the main plot is set at Halloween), this may be too focused on family drama for you. The dysfunctional family and episodes from their past are really the focus. I listened on audiobook and I think the narrator made it a lot more enjoyable than I would have found it otherwise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Medical content
evawhite's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- 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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Suicide, and Child death
passionatereader78's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
What a ride! I love the way this book was written. The flow of the story was fantastic and the reveal at the end was great! Daisy has a heart condition. Her family acts like she doesn't exist. She stays away from everyone except her loving grandmother. On her grandmother's 80th birthday she summons the entire family to her home for one last family celebration. When Daisy's grandmother turns up dead Daisy knows she has to figure out who killed her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Car accident, and Suicide
ems_rxlibrary's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Animal death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Gun violence
mdavis26's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, Car accident, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Blood, and Death of parent
rachel24x7's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Chronic illness, and Alcoholism
Minor: Gun violence, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Child death, Animal death, and Death of parent
bookswithbethx's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Bullying, Murder, Blood, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship
fanboyriot's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It definitely gave off And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (which was mentioned in the book) plus the narrator was great, her voice was quite relaxing.
I went into this knowing nothing about it and I kinda recommend that. The plot is much more interesting that way in my opinion. However, it definitely felt dragged out and at times, it seemed like there were some unnecessary chapters but overall it was pretty entertaining.
The plot twist near the end got me. I wasn’t expecting that but I’m not sure how I felt about it at the same time. Everything tied in together to the poem of the family. Exposing the family secrets one by one leading them to the biggest secret of all and getting revenge for it after so many years.
And lastly, never cross Nana… or else you’ll end up like the rest of the Darker family.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Bullying, Child death, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Alcohol, Ableism, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Confinement, Medical trauma, and Death
Moderate: Car accident, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Body shaming, Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Drug use, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, and Sexual harassment
minimicropup's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Crafty, erratic, secretive.
Our MC is the youngest of three siblings with parents who don't really want to be parents, so they're often left in the care of their paternal grandmother. Our MC has a congenital heart condition that affected how others treated her growing up.
🇬🇧 Set at a large cottage on an isolated Cornish tidal island in 2004.
🎃 Set on Halloween night during a storm
🐺🐕Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags:
🔎 The majority of the plot was Arrested Development meets Clue. The single first person narrative works well to keep long-winded explanations and repetition to a minimum. We primarily get Daisy's insight, but we also get clues and POVs from the other characters based on their actions and the snappy dialogues. Everyone is literally a suspect at some point, even the deceased.
🏠 House layout included. Even at my grown-up age I love book illustrations, maps, and layouts accompanying stories. There is a lot of exploring and movement between rooms and since the majority of the plot takes place in the house (both present and past), it was nice to have words saved for the story and not for trying to describe the layout. [Small gripe: the North American copy used the term 'living room' for the 'lounge'].
👌 I loved the structure of the story, because it keeps things interesting and provides clues and creates suspense and mystery in a subtle way. We get the current murder mayhem, flashbacks from Daisy of growing up at Seaglass Cottage with her family intermingled with home videos showing things may not be exactly as everyone remembers, and creepy nursery rhyme excerpts (presumably from Nana's latest children's book) between each chapter.
😮 There is a twist I would normally be annoyed with because it's often used when a writer has cornered themselves. That wasn't the feel here, it felt like it was interwoven into the story and purposeful. This is on my re-read list because it'll feel like a different book knowing the ending. Some readers may have even predicted it because it isn't a side-swipe style twist that no one could figure out.
🧐 I spent a the beginning portion of the book thinking it was unbelievable that everyone purposefully placed a child that could require life-saving emergency services at any given moment on an island cut off from the world. As the story progressed it all made sense - all that family dysfunction, disregard for each other, and parental selfishness!
Mood Reading Match Up:
Our MC is the youngest of three siblings with parents who don't really want to be parents, so they're often left in the care of their paternal grandmother. Our MC has a congenital heart condition that affected how others treated her growing up.
🇬🇧 Set at a large cottage on an isolated Cornish tidal island in 2004.
🎃 Set on Halloween night during a storm
🐺🐕Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags:
🔎 The majority of the plot was Arrested Development meets Clue. The single first person narrative works well to keep long-winded explanations and repetition to a minimum. We primarily get Daisy's insight, but we also get clues and POVs from the other characters based on their actions and the snappy dialogues. Everyone is literally a suspect at some point, even the deceased.
🏠 House layout included. Even at my grown-up age I love book illustrations, maps, and layouts accompanying stories. There is a lot of exploring and movement between rooms and since the majority of the plot takes place in the house (both present and past), it was nice to have words saved for the story and not for trying to describe the layout. [Small gripe: the North American copy used the term 'living room' for the 'lounge'].
👌 I loved the structure of the story, because it keeps things interesting and provides clues and creates suspense and mystery in a subtle way. We get the current murder mayhem, flashbacks from Daisy of growing up at Seaglass Cottage with her family intermingled with home videos showing things may not be exactly as everyone remembers, and creepy nursery rhyme excerpts (presumably from Nana's latest children's book) between each chapter.
😮 There is a twist I would normally be annoyed with because it's often used when a writer has cornered themselves. That wasn't the feel here, it felt like it was interwoven into the story and purposeful. This is on my re-read list because it'll feel like a different book knowing the ending. Some readers may have even predicted it because it isn't a side-swipe style twist that no one could figure out.
🧐 I spent a the beginning portion of the book thinking it was unbelievable that everyone purposefully placed a child that could require life-saving emergency services at any given moment on an island cut off from the world. As the story progressed it all made sense - all that family dysfunction, disregard for each other, and parental selfishness!
Mood Reading Match Up:
- Clues and puzzle plots
- Isolated, remote, closed circle mystery with people dropping like flies
- Dark and stormy night whodunit
- Hit of paranormal magical realism
- Nostalgic found-footage feels and childhood flashbacks
Content Heads-Up: Disability/chronically ill child. Child death. Alcoholism (recovery and relapse). Child abuse (violence).
Format: Paperback
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, and Chronic illness