Reviews

The first 1/2 of the book is extremely vague, confusing and disjointed. It was extremely frustrating to read, but I kept going because I wanted to understand the book.

Things come together in the last half and make for a decent story. It wasn’t my favorite, but not the worst I’ve read this year either.

candacesiegle_greedyreader's review against another edition

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5.0

Creepy as all get out. You'll be afraid of the main character from page one. It's my first Denise Mina, so can anyone recommend another?

~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader

catherine_t's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Anna McDonald's quiet, respectable life blows up spectacularly when her husband announces he's leaving her for her best friend Estelle. Stunned and grieving, Anna turns to other people's problems, in the form of a true-crime podcast... only it turns out that this particular other person is known to her. She met Leon Parker years earlier, when he was a guest at the hotel where she worked. Now she learns that he died on his yacht with his two children, Violetta and Mark.

Then Fin, Estelle's husband, shows up, and a meddling neighbour interferes, and suddenly Anna's past is roaring back like an express train. She and Fin find themselves on the run, whilst simultaneously investigating Leon's death and podcasting about it.

This was my first Denise Mina, but it won't be my last. I was hooked from the beginning. I loved the whole premise. I thought the characters were great: Anna especially really leapt off the page, but all the characters were exceptional. And I totally didn't expect the twist at the end, even though, in retrospect, all the clues were there. Highly recommended.

Content Warnings

cheyenneweishaar's review against another edition

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1.0

I’ve never written a review here before, mostly because I just happily trot along with my books and use the reviews from other folks to decide what to read next, but OH MY GOD. I couldn’t let this go without writing something about it.

*Spoilers*

Honestly, I don’t know what possessed me to get about 300 pages into this book but there I found myself and at that point I felt like I had to finish. My main concern with this book is it is totally UNBELIEVABLE. None of that would ever happen in real life... and I’m not talking about the murder mystery billionaire yacht crap. The beginning is so just... what?? One day Anna wakes up and her husband is like “Oh by the way, I’ve been having an affair with your best friend, I’m leaving you, and we’re taking the kids to Portugal.” And Anna is just like “Yeah, sure, cool” and puts up basically no fight? And then after half a day of considering suicide she decides to flit off to solve a murder mystery she heard on a podcast with an anorexic rockstar who happens to be the husband of the woman her husband left her for? No. Just, no. And the ending with the whole Dauphine/Violetta switch-a-roo? What the hell was that?

This whole book was a giant waste of time and I’m so mad I finished it. Save yourself the time and don’t bother.

lovelydm95's review against another edition

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2.0

This was such a chaotic book. I wanted to like it and did enjoy the beginning. After introducing the main character Anna and how unreliable of a narrator she was going to be, all of the other chaotic characters felt like too much to me. It was like the author decided to include every idea that popped into her head while writing and it made the plot too chaotic for me. There were a lot of things that could have been left out of this book and it would have been probably a better mystery novel. I am a bit sad I didn't care for this one.

booktokbrie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

britchiniquy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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