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A review by dobbsthedog
This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter
3.0
CW: incest, sexual assault, domestic violence, attempted murder
I feel like I’m rounding the rating up based on the writing. I thought about giving this 2 stars, because I disliked the story so much, but couldn’t quite do it.
I don’t even know what to say about this book. On the whole I didn’t really give a shit about the characters, I was mostly bored, but thought I should keep going to the end. And then in the end everyone is just WAY more terrible than you are expecting, and I was left reeling with the whodunnit (and not in an I-didn’t-see-this-coming way, but in a fucked up, oh good lord, this is awful way).
I’ve read pretty much every Karin Slaughter book written (there might be a couple of novellas that I’ve missed), and I’ve stuck with her even when my reading tastes have moved away from crime/psychological thrillers. And I’ve always especially enjoyed the Will Trent books, I’ve really enjoyed him as a character, but whatever it is that has drawn me to these books in the past was missing from this one. Maybe it was the extreme domestic violence? Maybe it was the attempt to write Black characters that completely failed (like, using racialized names to indicate race/ethnicity without actually indicating that they are Black is not good enough, and then the way they reacted to law enforcement felt very stereotypical and didn’t feel nuanced or thoughtful). I don’t know, but something was missing, to the point that I’m wondering if I’ll even read the next Karin Slaughter/Will Trent book.
I feel like I’m rounding the rating up based on the writing. I thought about giving this 2 stars, because I disliked the story so much, but couldn’t quite do it.
I don’t even know what to say about this book. On the whole I didn’t really give a shit about the characters, I was mostly bored, but thought I should keep going to the end. And then in the end everyone is just WAY more terrible than you are expecting, and I was left reeling with the whodunnit (and not in an I-didn’t-see-this-coming way, but in a fucked up, oh good lord, this is awful way).
I’ve read pretty much every Karin Slaughter book written (there might be a couple of novellas that I’ve missed), and I’ve stuck with her even when my reading tastes have moved away from crime/psychological thrillers. And I’ve always especially enjoyed the Will Trent books, I’ve really enjoyed him as a character, but whatever it is that has drawn me to these books in the past was missing from this one. Maybe it was the extreme domestic violence? Maybe it was the attempt to write Black characters that completely failed (like, using racialized names to indicate race/ethnicity without actually indicating that they are Black is not good enough, and then the way they reacted to law enforcement felt very stereotypical and didn’t feel nuanced or thoughtful). I don’t know, but something was missing, to the point that I’m wondering if I’ll even read the next Karin Slaughter/Will Trent book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Violence, and Gaslighting