Reviews with content warning for Infertility - The Book of Cold Cases

This book is a masterful example of pacing, and as a result I managed to binge read it two days. The author does a remarkable job of creating that certain atmosphere that a murder mystery NEEDS, without ever becoming cheesy or predictable. Absolutely nothing feels forced it extraneous. Literally the only thing I could consider changing would be to give a more complete sense of who Shea is outside of plot-relevant info…but I have no clue how you’d go about that without ruining the flow so I’m not mad at it. Just read it, if you like complex you whodunnits, you’ll like this book.

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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

A haunted mansion, a true crime researcher dealing with her own demons, a possible murderer acquitted for 40 years...you know, just regular stuff.

I have so many conflicting feelings on this one so let's go:

Positives! I liked the dual timelines, but I definitely liked the 1970's timeline better. I think that Simone St. James' strength is definitely in period pieces, and while I know that the present day perspective is necessary for the book to work, I just liked the past timeline better. I thought that the spooky scenes were extra spooky and often made me scared to turn my light out, and that addition to the plot made things way more interesting and tragic to me. There was one character who I thought was absolutely terrifying and interesting and I enjoyed every scene with her, but I'm not going to say more than that because spoilers. I thought some parts were predictable, but not in a way that angered me, more in a way where I was glad to have my suspicions confirmed.

That's kind of where my positives end? I feel torn, because there were parts of this I really enjoyed, but then there were so many parts that I thought could've been done better if someone else had written it. Before page 140, I was considering a DNF, but I wanted to give it a chance to redeem itself, and it did, but not as much as I would have liked it to.

Also....why does every book this woman publishes have a romance with a cop??

Overall, I think people who liked The Haunting of Hill House or Haunting of Bly Manor will like this one, but it wasn't my favorite.

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paronomaniac's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.25

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jennalynn48's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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bookishgoob's review against another edition

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slow-paced

1.0

A true crime blogger interviews a woman who was accused and acquitted of murder in the late 70’s.

DNF’D AT 42% HALFWAY THROUGH CHAPTER 21.

There is so much i want to say about this book from the little i read but i’ll just leave it at this.

too much description on things that don’t matter, what feels like it should be adding ambiance actually feels like too much information about things i couldn’t care less about.

the lawyer saying “i know pure evil when i see it” feels unethical and unprofessional. i didn’t finish my schooling, but i was going to school for law and i had to take many ethics classes. going against your client like that, publicly, even after the trial just doesn’t feel like something a lawyer would do irl. confidentiality between an attorney and a client is upheld even after the case is out of court, generally (from the little knowledge i have)

it’s really weird what the author chooses to elaborate on and describe. for instance in chapter 14 she elaborates on a phone call between shea and michael about a cat her neighbor dumped on her doorstep, and that’s the bulk of the conversation, but the conversation also implies they had a previous conversation about finding someone to interview and the name changes. to me that seems like a conversation that is more important to elaborate than one about if she should keep a cat or not. this “relationship” kind of reminds me of when reid had a girl friend that her only talked to on the phone in criminal minds. it feels like she’s trying to set up a relationship between these two characters but it is so unimportant, especially with how short the book is. why have a romance subplot?

in chapter twenty one, shea is having a drink with michael for the first time and he’s telling her about his job. he says “i’m mostly in insurance work. taking pictures of people who claim they’re in chronic pain while they lift furniture or go water skiing” I AM SO ANGRY???? that is absolutely disgusting to say. like chronic pain has intensities. I have chronic pain and i love with it every day, but some days i have more energy and less pain and i’m able to do bigger projects. chronic pain doesn’t mean no activity and it doesn’t mean not having fun. what a terrible and awful thing to read. i feel so disheartened and unheard as a person with chronic pain. how dare this author write something like that? this is one of many things it doesn’t seem like she understands. there has been so many things that i’ve said “not how that works but okay” to myself through the course of reading this. it feels like this author thinks up something and makes it true. i’m done with this book. it’s uninteresting, slow, boring, and full of misinformation. If you’re going to write a fiction book, not everything obviously has to be real, but there are somethings, especially if you’re placing your characters in the “real world” that you have to get right or it just sounds dumb. idk. i had been bored with this most of the way through and the chronic pain part really pissed me off. on top of that, she repeats things way too often in the same paragraphs and chapters and it’s like “wait didn’t you just say this?“ i’m finding it hard to understand how so many people rated this 5 stars. I am disappointed that I wasted my time with this book and i’m disheartened at the way this author talked about certain things. I have the sun down motel on my tbr and i’m debating on if it’s even worth it to read. I hate read many authors so it’s saying something that I cant even get through this book.

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nrogers_1030's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

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mondovertigo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

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