Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Shadows by Alex North

41 reviews

rcd229's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I've read so many books at this point in my life and I have such an overactive imagination that not a lot surprises me. Or if it does, it doesn't surprise me all that much. Usually if I'm reading a good mystery and I guess a good ending, I mostly just enjoy seeing how said ending was arrived at rather than being wowed by any plot twists because I generally see them coming. Not gonna lie, I did not quite see this one coming. The writing and the setup is done in such a way that I didn't even consider the big twist until I was already past it. So I'm fairly impressed. I read The Whisper Man a while back and thought that that, too, was a really good, albeit ***extremely*** messed up story, and I am no less appreciative of this (although this, while very dark, is definitely dark in a deeply sad way rather than the way The Whisper Man turns out).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Torture

chloebear21's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Murder

ashleycmms's review

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Death of parent, Violence, Death, Child death, Blood, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal death

antimony's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

didn't really feel much of anything while reading this like i did not often care. it was readable but the only character i cared one bit about was jenny (SPEAKING OF JENNY THOUGH....that plot twist CERTAINLY got me. i was not expecting that). my shock at said plot twist was probably the most emotion i felt throughout the book but like i didn't dislike it. it was just ok. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse

haleybre's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Dementia, Violence, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Grief, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

belysagan's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child death, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Dementia, Violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Suicide, and Body horror

hannahs_library__'s review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Dementia, Death, and Murder

Minor: Suicide

sydsmith23's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Minor: Drug abuse, Child abuse, and Alcohol

blackcatkai's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

CW: casual ableism, blood, violence, murder, child death, suicide, infidelity, addiction mentioned, alcohol/drug use, violence, gaslighting, toxic friendships, gore, trauma, abuse/bullying

I started reading this one with such hope, and i was enjoying it initially, but as it continued i found myself bored and could not stay engaged. there was both too much going on and yet nowhere near enough. a big issue, for me, were too many characters that all felt flat and too similar, and too many time skips back and forth. i also feel the detective parts could have been completely cut out and the story would've been much better. her povs just felt like a way to make the book longer and i am not a fan.

a couple of the twists in the end were pretty decent overall, but we get fade to black in a big action end scene that felt so disappointing. i was overall underwhelmed and i wish i wasnt. still going to check out other books by North, but this one was an absolute miss for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Murder, Ableism, Blood, Gore, and War

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Addiction

beckyremillard's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Paul has not been to his hometown for 25 years. Now his mother is in hospice, and he’s back to face his past. 

The story is told in Paul’s perspective both now and in the past. We also hear from Amanda, a detective who is working on a similar case that gets connected with the past Paul has been trying to avoid. 

The book is okay. I didn’t predict everything and it was definitely a bit creepy. But nothing really stood out to me as anything special. 

Two fathers in the Army who end up dying? One couldn’t be in a different military branch? I know it was decades apart but I had to read the page with Michael’s father again because for some reason I thought he was James’/Charlie’s father who committed suicide, thinking maybe he had faked it or something? I get it now, but the motivation behind Michael’s father murdering people was weird and there were two many twists to have smaller characters have the same defining trait of being in the Army.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Dementia

Moderate: Animal death and Suicide