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alexblackreads's review against another edition
3.0
I actually liked this book, probably because it was more of a mystery than her previous books and that made the story a little more palatable. I also enjoyed the characters much more and really didn't mind following them around for a whole book. This was also the first time I enjoyed her small, poor mining town atmosphere. I didn't love this book, but I did find myself quite enjoying it, especially in comparison to her previous books.
ciska's review against another edition
3.0
*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review*
Author
Tawni was born and raised in the coal-mining region of western Pennsylvania, the territory she writes about with such striking authenticity. She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and spent many years living in the Chicago area before moving back to Pennsylvania where she now lives with her two children.
Review
This mystery and psychological part of this book kept me reading. Though I did guess most of the connections early on I was still intrigued enough to find out how it would be worked out and when truths would be revealed.
I enjoyed Danny's personality. Despite being some famous person he is not made an arrogant personality which often happens. The sensitive kid can be seen easily. I did have a lot of trouble with Scarlett. Though I can enjoy evil she was so over the top that I had a hard time taking her serious. Still the interaction between both characters was interesting.
I did not like the detailed descriptions of the looks and clothing of the characters. Though I did understand at points why it was done it felt unnecessary to know exactly the complete outfit of a character with brands, textures and colour.
Author
Tawni was born and raised in the coal-mining region of western Pennsylvania, the territory she writes about with such striking authenticity. She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and spent many years living in the Chicago area before moving back to Pennsylvania where she now lives with her two children.
Review
This mystery and psychological part of this book kept me reading. Though I did guess most of the connections early on I was still intrigued enough to find out how it would be worked out and when truths would be revealed.
I enjoyed Danny's personality. Despite being some famous person he is not made an arrogant personality which often happens. The sensitive kid can be seen easily. I did have a lot of trouble with Scarlett. Though I can enjoy evil she was so over the top that I had a hard time taking her serious. Still the interaction between both characters was interesting.
I did not like the detailed descriptions of the looks and clothing of the characters. Though I did understand at points why it was done it felt unnecessary to know exactly the complete outfit of a character with brands, textures and colour.
andshe_reads's review against another edition
4.0
What can I say? I'm a sucker for the book cover, ultimately that's what draws me to even look at a book, When I saw this I was instantly intrigued leading me to read the blurb.. then I just fell right in head first!!
From the beginning I was completely invested in the storyline, Danny Doyle was born and raised in Lost Creek however he is now a famous psychologist in Philadelphia who goes home to look after his grandfather. Danny soon finds himself in the centre of a murder mystery that dredges up his own past which he would rather try to forget. The storyline is a page turner, O'Dell has you eager to read on and to uncover secret by secret and just when you think you've got it down to a tee all figured out something else surprises you on the next page.
Throughout the story we meet a very diverse set of characters, all vividly portrayed to us through their personalities. I found I enjoyed all the characters and they really suited the story well however admittedly Scarlett was my fave being an absolutely crazy psychopath so detached from normality it was nice having someone that was the complete opposite of a lucid and vulnerable Danny it really balanced things out.
O'Dell didn't miss any detail, she even mentioned the clothing brands several times throughout the story to show the different level's of wealth and possessions which I found quite shallow and wasn't really necessary as you can tell from the characters who is likely to be of higher class.
I have decided to rate this book 4 stars! A compelling read from start to finish bursting with secrets from within.
Thanks to Gallery books via NetGalley for the E-Arc of One Of Us!
From the beginning I was completely invested in the storyline, Danny Doyle was born and raised in Lost Creek however he is now a famous psychologist in Philadelphia who goes home to look after his grandfather. Danny soon finds himself in the centre of a murder mystery that dredges up his own past which he would rather try to forget. The storyline is a page turner, O'Dell has you eager to read on and to uncover secret by secret and just when you think you've got it down to a tee all figured out something else surprises you on the next page.
Throughout the story we meet a very diverse set of characters, all vividly portrayed to us through their personalities. I found I enjoyed all the characters and they really suited the story well however admittedly Scarlett was my fave being an absolutely crazy psychopath so detached from normality it was nice having someone that was the complete opposite of a lucid and vulnerable Danny it really balanced things out.
O'Dell didn't miss any detail, she even mentioned the clothing brands several times throughout the story to show the different level's of wealth and possessions which I found quite shallow and wasn't really necessary as you can tell from the characters who is likely to be of higher class.
I have decided to rate this book 4 stars! A compelling read from start to finish bursting with secrets from within.
Thanks to Gallery books via NetGalley for the E-Arc of One Of Us!
readinggrrl's review against another edition
4.0
I originally requested this book because the main character is from Philadelphia and since I live there I thought it would be fun to read about different places I've been, but while the main character lives there most of the story takes place in Lost Creek. Lost Creek is a struggling coal mine town where the family that owns the mine's also owned most of the people. Throughout the years the mine owners have kept the town under their thumbs, but now the mines are drying up and the town is struggling even more. Developers want to come in and tear down some of its history to build structures that it says will bring money to the town, but the ghosts of those wrongly punished and hung (referred to as the Nellies) seem to be enacting their revenge and people are dying.
Sheridan Doyle is a direct descendant of one of the "Nellies" he grew up in the small town but has shunned its way of life and the town itself. Wearing expensive suits he returns home to help his grandfather and finds the local police turning to him for help to stop the killing, but he doesn't realize that he may be connected to the killings in ways he wouldn't have thought possible.
Quirky characters and a man struggling to reconcile his past with his current self help move the story along. I found this to be a quick read and engrossing story.
Sheridan Doyle is a direct descendant of one of the "Nellies" he grew up in the small town but has shunned its way of life and the town itself. Wearing expensive suits he returns home to help his grandfather and finds the local police turning to him for help to stop the killing, but he doesn't realize that he may be connected to the killings in ways he wouldn't have thought possible.
Quirky characters and a man struggling to reconcile his past with his current self help move the story along. I found this to be a quick read and engrossing story.
urlphantomhive's review against another edition
3.0
READ IN ENGLISH
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
Publication date: August 19th 2014
Dr. Sheridan "Danny" Doyle is now a famous psychologist in Philadelphia, but used to be an outcast with his irresponsible father and mentally ill mother who's in jail. Raised by his grandfather, who's grandfather was executed before the eyes of his father as one of the Nellies, a group of rebellious Irish miners. However, the past is far from dead in Lost Creek.
It started off very good. I could immediately feel that this was a community that's - almost with every step they take - still strung to the past. The gallows were never torn down, there are the NONs, there's a museum, and most of people believe the whole place is haunted.There are few people in Lost Creek that are not somehow related to the men, the Nellies, that died there in the 19th century. The mines still run, and are still in the hands of the same family, the Dawes. Thus everyone in the village is still dependent on them. Danny has freed himself from this, but gets drawn back into it when he returns to Lost Creek to look after his sick grandfather Tommy, and stumbles upon a dead body near the gallows.
I was from the very beginning drawn into the story, but this somehow stopped after about 100 pages, when the POV switches between Danny and Scarlet (firstborn daughter of Dawes), who's a terribly unlike-able character. I don't mind reading about a psychopath, but she was just SO annoying, I found that I couldn't really care the same for the rest of the story. I still wanted to find out what happened (and what was written on that mysterious piece of paper), but mostly I just wanted to get rid of Scarlet. The writing was good and read fast, which would make this a perfect summer suspense had Scarlet not been such an annoying character...
A nice little touch of her lovely character
"I liked her well enough. She was no threat to me. My family had more money. I was prettier, smarter, and had a far superior wardrobe. I was better than her in every way that I wanted to be." *
* This was quoted from the reader's proof, and may have been corrected/changed in the final version, but I haven't been able to check.
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
Publication date: August 19th 2014
Dr. Sheridan "Danny" Doyle is now a famous psychologist in Philadelphia, but used to be an outcast with his irresponsible father and mentally ill mother who's in jail. Raised by his grandfather, who's grandfather was executed before the eyes of his father as one of the Nellies, a group of rebellious Irish miners. However, the past is far from dead in Lost Creek.
It started off very good. I could immediately feel that this was a community that's - almost with every step they take - still strung to the past. The gallows were never torn down, there are the NONs, there's a museum, and most of people believe the whole place is haunted.There are few people in Lost Creek that are not somehow related to the men, the Nellies, that died there in the 19th century. The mines still run, and are still in the hands of the same family, the Dawes. Thus everyone in the village is still dependent on them. Danny has freed himself from this, but gets drawn back into it when he returns to Lost Creek to look after his sick grandfather Tommy, and stumbles upon a dead body near the gallows.
I was from the very beginning drawn into the story, but this somehow stopped after about 100 pages, when the POV switches between Danny and Scarlet (firstborn daughter of Dawes), who's a terribly unlike-able character. I don't mind reading about a psychopath, but she was just SO annoying, I found that I couldn't really care the same for the rest of the story. I still wanted to find out what happened (and what was written on that mysterious piece of paper), but mostly I just wanted to get rid of Scarlet. The writing was good and read fast, which would make this a perfect summer suspense had Scarlet not been such an annoying character...
A nice little touch of her lovely character
"I liked her well enough. She was no threat to me. My family had more money. I was prettier, smarter, and had a far superior wardrobe. I was better than her in every way that I wanted to be." *
* This was quoted from the reader's proof, and may have been corrected/changed in the final version, but I haven't been able to check.
acinthedc's review against another edition
2.0
Sheridan "Danny" Doyle returns to his hometown after he learns his grandfather has been ill. Middle-age, educated, and well-dressed Danny, doesn't fit in with the hardscrabble folks in the gloomy coal-mining town of Lost Creek, PA. When Danny stumbles across a body at an infamous location in town he becomes involved in an investigation that will reveal deep secrets.
This would have been a much more enjoyable read, if it weren't so predictable. The big secrets, confrontations (Danny's fear, a killer), and conclusion all lack imagination and are fairly obvious. I also didn't care much for the writing style with the repeated naming of designer clothing, changing narrators, and psychobabble about sociopaths. Many of the secondary/background characters were more interesting than the protagonist and some of the dialogue felt clunky. Overall a 2.5 out of 5.
This would have been a much more enjoyable read, if it weren't so predictable. The big secrets, confrontations (Danny's fear, a killer), and conclusion all lack imagination and are fairly obvious. I also didn't care much for the writing style with the repeated naming of designer clothing, changing narrators, and psychobabble about sociopaths. Many of the secondary/background characters were more interesting than the protagonist and some of the dialogue felt clunky. Overall a 2.5 out of 5.
tangledinwordsandyarn's review against another edition
3.0
Perhaps it was the author's intention to have several of the characters appear, well almost as if they are caricatures as a way of having them stand out from the rest of the town. Or perhaps not, but several of the characters, Danny, Scarlett, even Wade, were mostly differentiated by the long list of high end clothes.
Otherwise the story was interesting.
Otherwise the story was interesting.
cyndin's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty well written story about crazy families, serial killers, poverty, and some mystery. The characters hail from a declining coal mining town where the ghosts of martyred miners and of past wrongs take root in the residents' lives.
jalynb's review against another edition
4.0
I read this one a few chapters at a time for the first 100 pages or so. I had a hard time getting into it and was prepared to give up, but I kept reading and I'm glad I did. I flew through the last 200 pages.
I had a hard time rating this. I didn't enjoy Danny's POV. He has a traumatic past so some damage is to be expected, but he's quite the pansy and I didn't like how he literally ran from his past. He wasn't very likeable.
Then came Scarlet's POV. That's when things got really interesting. She wasn't likeable AT ALL, but being inside her mind was as both interesting and disturbing. Her messed up story is what bumped this book from a 2 star to a 3.5 star read for me.
If you pick this book up and can't seem to get into it then my advice is to keep reading. I struggled with it at first, but really liked it in the end. It was worth the read :)
I had a hard time rating this. I didn't enjoy Danny's POV. He has a traumatic past so some damage is to be expected, but he's quite the pansy and I didn't like how he literally ran from his past. He wasn't very likeable.
Then came Scarlet's POV. That's when things got really interesting. She wasn't likeable AT ALL, but being inside her mind was as both interesting and disturbing. Her messed up story is what bumped this book from a 2 star to a 3.5 star read for me.
If you pick this book up and can't seem to get into it then my advice is to keep reading. I struggled with it at first, but really liked it in the end. It was worth the read :)