Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Quiet in Her Bones

I never managed to connect with this book, but I wanted to finish it out of spite. It seems like this author threw a lot of elements at the wall to see if they could stick. You can tell she’s definitely a good descriptive writer from the prose but it felt purple at most parts. Since it’s a mystery, I’m sure every background character was given extreme detail to throw the reader off the trail of the killer. It just made the book confusing and hard to push through.
It reminded me of Dark Places by Gillian Flynn due to the unreliable and “unlikeable” narrator, but I actually didn’t really like the MC. His whole angry, manipulative streak was not endearing and he seemed full of himself. I wasn’t rooting for anyone in the book. Most characters served no purpose and I didn’t know who they were most of the time or their purpose in the story. The resolution of the main conflict of the entire story doesn’t even get covered in the epilogue and even then, it’s like an afterthought. I wasn’t thrilled or excited by this book, just wanted it to end so I could find out what happened to Nina, but jury’s still out on whether that was worth it or not.

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1undercover's review against another edition

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I read mysteries in order to learn about people and to be engaged mentally. I do not enjoy unreliable narrators that scare me. I don’t enjoy being inside of unstable, angry men. I enjoy main characters who are flawed, make mistakes, hurt the people around them. But I need to trust them a little more with my experience.

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sarahaf712's review against another edition

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lilifane's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Soooo, how do I bribe Nalini Singh to stop writing Romance and focus on Thrillers? Because I really need more of this.

It seemed so simple and straight forward at the beginning and developed into this huge, confusing mess, and I loved every bit of it. I kept guessing, and I kept second-guessing, and for me the conclusion was really satisfying. It is a very slow-paced book with a huge cast of characters, but the writing was so good, it kept me hooked until the very last page. Loved the diversity and the setting in New Zealand, specifically in this secluded rich people neighborhood where everyone is keeping secrets. The interactions between the neighbors gave me life, and the protagonist was... something!

It's probably too much to ask for a mini series adaptation? It's just so many of those scenes were SO vivid, I could practically see them played out in my head.

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ljpbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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stephbakerbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Things I liked:
- diverse cast of characters, connected together by living in the same neighborhood
- New Zealand setting
- short chapters
- questioning everything and everyone
- the twists at the end
- Pari

Things I didn't like:
- all the characters except for Pari
- takes a while to remember who is who, because there are so many characters (even by the end, a name would be mentioned and I would think, "Wait who was that again?")
- the pacing felt off to me in places (there would be a tension-filled moment and then the next chapter would act like that moment hadn't just happened)
- the ending felt rushed; nothing was happening and then a lot happened in the span of a few pages and then it was done

Overall, a decent mystery that kept me guessing, but the unlikable characters and lack of any real character development kept me from rating this higher.

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