Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

74 reviews

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

Three people I know recommended this book to me. If they'd led with how funny it is, I might've read it sooner. On the other hand, if they'd led with how corpse-strewn and emotional it is, I might've read it sooner, too. (Basically, what I'm saying is, if you're going to recommend a book to me, please tell me why you think I'd like it. No matter how much I like you, just telling me, "I liked it" won't convince me.) Anyway. This is a funny, emotional, corpse-strewn mystery, and I liked it a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Dementia, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Graphic: Ageism Moderate: Nonconsensual drug use, Euthanasia

lucy_cross56's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Medical content, and Alcohol

disasterdump's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, and Murder

kinga_minga's review against another edition

funny mysterious

4.0

it was a well-known fact that there were no calories in homemade cakes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content and Murder

brieoqueijo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was SO GOOD! Honestly, an amazing surprise, I love all the main character and the resolution of “who did it?” actually surprised me, which is quite hard to do these days. I laughed out laud, cried (twice) and gasped multiple times. I’d run to my roommate to tell her about it and even call my mom. Now I’m giving it to my mom so we can gossip about it. I’m super excited to read the second book and I hope there are more to come!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Deportation

dkamada's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Domestic abuse, Abortion, Pregnancy, and War

little_white's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

This book would be 50x better if the author got rid of the almost constant fatphobia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia

Moderate: Medical content and Murder

Minor: Suicide

naomi_k's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Suicide, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

rbadz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Excellent.
Been on my list for a while, but putting it off Incase it didn't live up to the hype. Listened to it on audio book, which was a fantastic cast and brought it to life even more.
Funny, fun, emotions, twists & turns, enjoyable guessing. Just all round brill

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, and Murder

lunep's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book affected me quite a bit I think. At first I wasn't sure if I was going to continue it because the writing style was A Choice and I was kinda confused (probably because I tried to start it while there was a bunch of conversation around me), but I'm glad I stuck it out until everything started to make sense (I only needed a couple of chapters until the different plot-lines started to mesh tbf)
This book was...so lovely. I didn't remember the cast was a bunch of elderly people, but they were so funny and lovable, I have to admit I have a soft spot for elderly people. One would think murder mysteries deal a whole lot with making sense of our own mortality, but I think I haven't found one that really does it until this one, and it's not even because these octogenarians are solving a murder, but because they are octogenarians
The plot was full of twists and I didn't even try to figure out who was the murderer (ok maybe just a little, at first I was sure it had been Father Mackie but I even wrote in my note that it seemed to obvious, and for a moment there at the end I was scared it might be Joyce), and to be honest I wouldnt have gotten it, I for sure did not see it coming, but I've come to realize these kind of books dont give enough information to figure it out yourself anyway, so I don't mind never figuring it out, I enjoyed the ride nonetheless

tho I did end up a little confused about Ian's murderer reveal. The first story John told the thursday murder club made sense, because they said he worked around there I think? My ipad is charging, I might need to check it later, so like, it checks out that the body they found could have been that guy whose horse John put to sleep; but when they reveal it was actually that asshole from the murder they were investigating when Elizabeth roped Joyce into the club, that Penny had killed...I can believe that, but did they live around there, then? Coopers Chase didn't exist yet, it was stil a convent...so why did Penny bury him in the Garden of Eternal Rest? And then did she decide they should move there to keep an eye out? Like John had said? But John also mentioned something about always going to sit by the hill and then Penny made them stop...idk, that part was confusing to me, if someone reads this and understood better, pls explain?

Also I think the fact that they're 70+ year old pensioners adds to the story, of course, it could work if they were younger and, say, working in the police, like Donna and Chris, but the fact that they're 4 old men and women, who have backgrounds that can help, and whose age definitely helps butter people up...it just makes it funner I think, it also allows, of course, for the characters to have experience to draw from, and that kind of wisdom that comes with age, and I think it elevates the book from just a fun murder mystery (like a Poirot, no shade to Agatha Christie ofc) to a book that also leaves some important insights and messages
I also loved the secondary characters, Donna and Chris, who I already mentioned (I was scared for a moment there that Osman would make them an age-gap couple, but I really enjoyed what he did with their relationship instead), and also Bogdan (who I think is my favorite, he's such a sweetheart in his own way) and Father Mackie, I think Osman did a great job adding them to the POV roster to give more insight into their characters (also? I ended up finding the writing style hilarious, how it can go from one theme to another and it's still easy to follow, it felt kinda like my head) through their backstory, making them maybe not fully fleshed out characters yet, but definitely more than props/means-to-an-end
Also Ian Ventham was a insane character, every time we got his POV I couldnt help but laugh out loud at how much of a horrible human being he was
I think this book definitely became a new favorite, and I might look for it in spanish so my mom can read it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Fatphobia, Suicide, Xenophobia, Dementia, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy