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powerpuffgoat's reviews
73 reviews
The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
4.25
This is the first book I've read by Karin Slaughter, thanks to make recommendations by thriller/crime novel fans. All in all, I enjoyed it, as much as you can enjoy a book featuring death and violence, I guess.
The pace was great - the book pulls you in straight away, and it's filled with either action or mystery throughout. When I started reading it, I expected to get a couple of chapters in, but instead I ended up reading until 2 am. The tension is so high in certain parts of the book, I found myself holding my breath.
The author clearly doesn't shy away from graphic description of violence, so I would definitely recommend checking trigger warnings.
The only thing I wasn't a fan of is the "romantic" subplot between one of the main characters and her estranged husband. I thought it was unnecessary, and frankly, quite boring. Annoyingly, this subplot is also framed a bit like a mystery - why did they separate? Whose fault was it? Does he still love her?
In addition, it turns out that the husband who got very upset when his wife (after 9 months of separation) had a one-night stand, had slept with his coworker previously. Multiple times. All because his wife wouldn't let him be on top?
However, relationships between other characters were very well outlined.
Overall, it was a good read, and I'm definiteky puttung more Karin Slaughter books on my TBR!
The pace was great - the book pulls you in straight away, and it's filled with either action or mystery throughout. When I started reading it, I expected to get a couple of chapters in, but instead I ended up reading until 2 am. The tension is so high in certain parts of the book, I found myself holding my breath.
The author clearly doesn't shy away from graphic description of violence, so I would definitely recommend checking trigger warnings.
The only thing I wasn't a fan of is the "romantic" subplot between one of the main characters and her estranged husband. I thought it was unnecessary, and frankly, quite boring. Annoyingly, this subplot is also framed a bit like a mystery - why did they separate? Whose fault was it? Does he still love her?
However, relationships between other characters were very well outlined.
Overall, it was a good read, and I'm definiteky puttung more Karin Slaughter books on my TBR!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Miscarriage, and Vomit
Minor: Cancer and Suicide
When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I knew it was a young adult book when I picked it up. That said, the opening paragraph did not hold anything back.
"I DIDN’T MEAN TO KILL Josh Harper.
Really, I didn’t. It’s just that I was nervous, and condoms are more complicated than I was expecting, and one thing led to another and—well.
Now there’s blood everywhere and he’s dead."
Unfortunately, I didn't find the rest of the book as enticing. The pace was pretty slow, the main character was lins of meh, and the writing was subpar.
It's not all bad, though! There's plenty of LGBTQ+ and POC representation, which was so refreshing. I can't remember a single book I read as a teenager that had as much diversity. Sadly, the author failed to flesh out these character beyond quite boxy descriptions. I also felt that perhaps there were too many characters in this ride-or-die friend group.
I think I would have enjoyed this book as a young girl, but I don't feel that it's one of those YA novels that an older reader would appreciate.
"I DIDN’T MEAN TO KILL Josh Harper.
Really, I didn’t. It’s just that I was nervous, and condoms are more complicated than I was expecting, and one thing led to another and—well.
Now there’s blood everywhere and he’s dead."
Unfortunately, I didn't find the rest of the book as enticing. The pace was pretty slow, the main character was lins of meh, and the writing was subpar.
It's not all bad, though! There's plenty of LGBTQ+ and POC representation, which was so refreshing. I can't remember a single book I read as a teenager that had as much diversity. Sadly, the author failed to flesh out these character beyond quite boxy descriptions. I also felt that perhaps there were too many characters in this ride-or-die friend group.
I think I would have enjoyed this book as a young girl, but I don't feel that it's one of those YA novels that an older reader would appreciate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Blood
Minor: Child death
A Simple Plan by Scott Smith
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Where do I start? Reading this book was frustrating as hell. It dives into action fairly quickly, and the premise was interesting. However, the stuff that followed was a mess.
The characters are so mind-numbingly stupid, it's astonishing. Every person, from core characters to barely-there characters just acts careless or irrational at one point or another.
And sure, it appears that Lou and Jacob were stupid by design. Unfortunately, that did not make it any less frustrating to read.
Hank, who refers to himself as "normal" at least twice, is completely off the rails. The risks he takes are entirely improportional, yet every time he thinks of a new plan, he pats himself on the back. The plans are always completely batshit, by the way, but end up working out, which only assures him he is clever enough.
Sarah, who at the start of the book seems like the sensible one, quickly breaks that illusion by coming up with a couple of idiotic plans of her own. The whole "get Lou to pretend he's Hank and confess so that you have a recording of it" plan? How did that work? In what world? Honourable mentions go to playing monopoly with stolen money and pretty much giggling with joy about the money while on the phone with Hank who is at the police precinct.
Minor characters are guilty of it, too. Carl the local sheriff doesn't check an FBI agent for ID, just lends Hank a gun, and generally chews up and shallows everything he is told. The FBI agents nonchalantly share confidential information with a random witness. The strangely Christian store clerk insists on fighting Hank, and the female customer pitches a Karen fit and goes into the back of the liquor store to hold a stepladder instead of just asking for a bottle from the back, or having something other than red wine?
Not only did it leave me frustrated, but I failed to sympathise with a single character in this book, unless you count the dog.
The dog is severely mistreated, and the main character likes to justify the mistreatment because the dog misbehaved. Of course it's going to! Y'all are clearly neglecting the poor animal! If you like dogs, you will probably want to skip some pages. Or the whole book. It wouldn't be a big loss.
I also want to address the way female characters are presented in this book. Firstly, there are very few, and the majority are reduced to being someone's wife or girlfriend. Out of the two that weren't, one was a minor character who acts entitled, and the other was was Sarah, narrator Hank's wife.
Sarah is pregnant, and subsequently gives birth. Don't worry, that has nothing to do with the plot. But the author made some very deliberate choices to talk about Sarah's body, the baby growing inside, the breastfeeding etc. And I just want to know why. Did he think people would relate to viewing a pregnant woman or a nursing mother the way he does? Did he think focusing on Sarah's nipples was instrumental to the book? I was truly perplexed by this element because it has zero bearing on the plot.
Once the baby is born, the main character doesn't appear to be interested in taking care of, or even spending time with his child. There is one scene where we witness him taking care of the baby, and that left a sour taste in my mouth because in the moment, Hankfantasised about how easy it would be to murder his wife and child. Wtf.
And if this made you feel bad for Sarah, it won't last. Sarah is possibly the most callous character in the book.
Lastly, the writing was simply frustrating. Half of the dialogue is people answering a question with a question.
"I think he might be dead."
"Dead?"
"Can I borrow a gun?"
"A gun?"
"Does that bother you?"
"Bother me?"
To me, this book was an amalgamation of bad writing, unsympathetic characters, nonsense plot, violence that comes seemingly out of nowhere, unnecessary animal cruelty and blatant misogyny. Do with that what you will, but I am unlikely to pick up a book by this author ever again.
The characters are so mind-numbingly stupid, it's astonishing. Every person, from core characters to barely-there characters just acts careless or irrational at one point or another.
Hank, who refers to himself as "normal" at least twice, is completely off the rails. The risks he takes are entirely improportional, yet every time he thinks of a new plan, he pats himself on the back. The plans are always completely batshit, by the way, but end up working out, which only assures him he is clever enough.
Sarah, who at the start of the book seems like the sensible one, quickly breaks that illusion by coming up with a couple of idiotic plans of her own. The whole "get Lou to pretend he's Hank and confess so that you have a recording of it" plan? How did that work? In what world? Honourable mentions go to playing monopoly with stolen money and pretty much giggling with joy about the money while on the phone with Hank who is at the police precinct.
Minor characters are guilty of it, too. Carl the local sheriff doesn't check an FBI agent for ID, just lends Hank a gun, and generally chews up and shallows everything he is told. The FBI agents nonchalantly share confidential information with a random witness. The strangely Christian store clerk insists on fighting Hank, and the female customer pitches a Karen fit and goes into the back of the liquor store to hold a stepladder instead of just asking for a bottle from the back, or having something other than red wine?
Not only did it leave me frustrated, but I failed to sympathise with a single character in this book, unless you count the dog.
The dog is severely mistreated, and the main character likes to justify the mistreatment because the dog misbehaved. Of course it's going to! Y'all are clearly neglecting the poor animal! If you like dogs, you will probably want to skip some pages. Or the whole book. It wouldn't be a big loss.
I also want to address the way female characters are presented in this book. Firstly, there are very few, and the majority are reduced to being someone's wife or girlfriend. Out of the two that weren't, one was a minor character who acts entitled, and the other was was Sarah, narrator Hank's wife.
Sarah is pregnant, and subsequently gives birth. Don't worry, that has nothing to do with the plot. But the author made some very deliberate choices to talk about Sarah's body, the baby growing inside, the breastfeeding etc. And I just want to know why. Did he think people would relate to viewing a pregnant woman or a nursing mother the way he does? Did he think focusing on Sarah's nipples was instrumental to the book? I was truly perplexed by this element because it has zero bearing on the plot.
Once the baby is born, the main character doesn't appear to be interested in taking care of, or even spending time with his child. There is one scene where we witness him taking care of the baby, and that left a sour taste in my mouth because in the moment, Hank
And if this made you feel bad for Sarah, it won't last. Sarah is possibly the most callous character in the book.
Lastly, the writing was simply frustrating. Half of the dialogue is people answering a question with a question.
"I think he might be dead."
"Dead?"
"Can I borrow a gun?"
"A gun?"
"Does that bother you?"
"Bother me?"
To me, this book was an amalgamation of bad writing, unsympathetic characters, nonsense plot, violence that comes seemingly out of nowhere, unnecessary animal cruelty and blatant misogyny. Do with that what you will, but I am unlikely to pick up a book by this author ever again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Pregnancy