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A review by joreadsbooks
Never Coming Home by Kate Williams
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Listened to the audiobook
Trigger warning: transphobic slur, murder, gore, blood, vomiting,
Content warning: references to suicide, anaphylaxis, incineration, drug overdose, attempted poisoning of a dog, infanticide, mental illness, stalking, cyberbullying
The kids in this retelling of And Then There Were None taking place at something like Fyre Fest are absolutely awful in a way caricatures of influencers can be. If you're someone who enjoys tightly-paced, locked room murder mysteries all narrated by objectively terrible people like I do, you'll be in for a treat. I found myself enraptured by their back stories and was honestly pulled along with each surprising death.
In terms of the order of the murders, here are some spoilers that encapsulate my disappointment (if you are a trans reader, you might want to take a look anyway).I thought it was a missed opportunity for the trans girl to die before the transphobe. Given the climate around YA books and dated horror tropes in general, it's a shame that one of the marginalized characters had to be the first to go. It would have worked better for them to be swapped, but that's just my opinion. The justification for the murder also felt weak to me, but that's more about personal taste than actual execution.
Fun, but comes with caveats beyond the usual.
Trigger warning: transphobic slur, murder, gore, blood, vomiting,
Content warning: references to suicide, anaphylaxis, incineration, drug overdose, attempted poisoning of a dog, infanticide, mental illness, stalking, cyberbullying
The kids in this retelling of And Then There Were None taking place at something like Fyre Fest are absolutely awful in a way caricatures of influencers can be. If you're someone who enjoys tightly-paced, locked room murder mysteries all narrated by objectively terrible people like I do, you'll be in for a treat. I found myself enraptured by their back stories and was honestly pulled along with each surprising death.
In terms of the order of the murders, here are some spoilers that encapsulate my disappointment (if you are a trans reader, you might want to take a look anyway).
Fun, but comes with caveats beyond the usual.