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A review by libbith220
All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles
3.25
arc from NetGalley
Unfortunately this reading experience was very similar to the last arc I read: not my favorite showing from a favorite author. Charles's signature humor and flawed-but-lovable characters were very much on display here, but I wasn't that taken with overall the story.
Let's start with the good stuff. I really did love our hero, Zeb. The portrayal of his ADHD and the subsequent struggles that came with it were excellent, and it was a constant in the story without it being obnoxious. He was far from perfect, but he always strove to be good and to be true to his morals. It took a bit for me to warm up to his romance with Gideon (more on that later) but they really were a classic K.J. Charles couple, which is to say very fun and something to root for. The overall pacing was good and didn't become repetitive or tedious, even though the setting was just the one location.
However, there were some bumps for me that prevent me from giving this a higher rating. It was a bit difficult to orient things at the beginning of the book. The time period wasn't exactly clear until waaay later (at least to me), and I definitely spent too much brain power picking up on small details in order to nail down a date range. We meet Gideon right away and it's clear that he has some sort of history with Zeb, but without any idea what that might be there was no emotional impact or investment. Until that backstory was explained, I just really didn't know what to do with Gideon's role in the story.
The mystery itself was kind of intriguing, but I felt that there weren't enough clues/hints given to the reader for me to figure out was really going on, and I really just had to wait for things to be revealed at the end. (HOWEVER, I don't read a ton of mystery novels and I usually don't try to guess at twists and such, so maybe that's a personal skill issue ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) I also found the ending to be rather anticlimactic; we didn't get to experience justice meted out on the guilty parties, and I really expected more drama. (Also, the epilogue fast-forwarded to modern times reflecting back, and made mentions to Buzzfeed and Goodreads, which was just odd.)
Finally, there was a bit about reparations and how the estate was built on slave labor, and how Zeb wanted to help correct that legacy. Which is all good stuff, obviously!...but it felt forced and unnatural. I hate to critique this point because it’s something that should be addressed more and there's nothing bad about drawing attention to it, but I can’t lie and say that it flowed well in this particular story. I think it would have fit better if it had been a bigger element to the narrative, instead of referenced only a couple of times.
There were a couple of typos in the text, which weren't unexpected in an arc and didn't detract too much from the book. I will still seek out K.J. Charles's work, but I'm bummed that this one didn't quite meet my expectations.
Unfortunately this reading experience was very similar to the last arc I read: not my favorite showing from a favorite author. Charles's signature humor and flawed-but-lovable characters were very much on display here, but I wasn't that taken with overall the story.
Let's start with the good stuff. I really did love our hero, Zeb. The portrayal of his ADHD and the subsequent struggles that came with it were excellent, and it was a constant in the story without it being obnoxious. He was far from perfect, but he always strove to be good and to be true to his morals. It took a bit for me to warm up to his romance with Gideon (more on that later) but they really were a classic K.J. Charles couple, which is to say very fun and something to root for. The overall pacing was good and didn't become repetitive or tedious, even though the setting was just the one location.
However, there were some bumps for me that prevent me from giving this a higher rating. It was a bit difficult to orient things at the beginning of the book. The time period wasn't exactly clear until waaay later (at least to me), and I definitely spent too much brain power picking up on small details in order to nail down a date range. We meet Gideon right away and it's clear that he has some sort of history with Zeb, but without any idea what that might be there was no emotional impact or investment. Until that backstory was explained, I just really didn't know what to do with Gideon's role in the story.
The mystery itself was kind of intriguing, but I felt that there weren't enough clues/hints given to the reader for me to figure out was really going on, and I really just had to wait for things to be revealed at the end. (HOWEVER, I don't read a ton of mystery novels and I usually don't try to guess at twists and such, so maybe that's a personal skill issue ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) I also found the ending to be rather anticlimactic; we didn't get to experience justice meted out on the guilty parties, and I really expected more drama. (Also, the epilogue fast-forwarded to modern times reflecting back, and made mentions to Buzzfeed and Goodreads, which was just odd.)
Finally, there was a bit about reparations and how the estate was built on slave labor, and how Zeb wanted to help correct that legacy. Which is all good stuff, obviously!...but it felt forced and unnatural. I hate to critique this point because it’s something that should be addressed more and there's nothing bad about drawing attention to it, but I can’t lie and say that it flowed well in this particular story. I think it would have fit better if it had been a bigger element to the narrative, instead of referenced only a couple of times.
There were a couple of typos in the text, which weren't unexpected in an arc and didn't detract too much from the book. I will still seek out K.J. Charles's work, but I'm bummed that this one didn't quite meet my expectations.