jennboyack_scott's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, and Cancer
Moderate: Death, Child death, Mental illness, Suicide, and Rape
Minor: Child abuse
ashley_turch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Personally was disappointed in the ending. It didn’t feel realistic to me. Maybe the format didn’t allow me to fully picture the characters being capable of these things —
Spoiler
the murder, that is. I definitely caught the other illegal things happening.Would have liked a closer look into Issy’s mental illness issues. Plus why did Martin treat James like such shit? Left with some questions , but maybe that’s the point?
Graphic: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Child death, Murder, Terminal illness, Child abuse, and Cancer
Moderate: Medical trauma, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infertility, Sexual assault, and Violence
Besides murder, most of the content is not super descriptive due to the nature of the book’s letter format. SA is discussed as something that happened in the past. Not graphic. Someone marked animal death/cruelty for this, but as someone who can never stomach that type of content, it ended up being totally fine. Calling it animal death was a stretch. (Explaining below - no major spoilers but hiding just in case)Spoiler
The family dog has a foreign body obstruction surgery while being dogsat. The owner says to the sitter that if the surgery is more than $100 to just put the dog down. Messed up, yes, but doesn’t affect anyone. The surgery was paid for by a family member and the dog recovered swimmingly. He wasn’t mentioned again after this and seemed to be a happy boy from there on out.imiinbook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Minor: Cancer and Sexual assault
stepnic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, War, Suicide, Infidelity, Infertility, and Cursing
gillianengelbrecht's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Infertility, Sexual assault, Cancer, Murder, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Infidelity
Minor: Suicide, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Bullying
amyvl93's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The actual plot centres in a small British town, with an influential amdram society's production of All My Sons and a charity fundraiser for a young girl with cancer to get expensive overseas treatment - all of which are complicated by the arrival of a young couple who have been nursing in Africa.
Whilst a cosy mystery focusing on an wealthy influential family and a bunch of hangers-on isn't anything new, I was really engaged with this novel in both working out the crimes and the who did it - whilst I did guess some of what was revealed, I didn't figure it all out, and it was fun to have this be part of the narrative.
There were times when it was difficult to always keep track of timescales (probably because I wasn't taking detailed notes) and not all the characters felt as real or developed as others, but this was a fun read, and I'd definitely look to Hallett for more like this.
Moderate: Cancer and Murder
Minor: Mental illness and Sexual assault
starglitters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cancer and Terminal illness
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual assault
librarianlirael's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Stalking
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Murder, Medical content, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Addiction, and Cancer
mandkips's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Cancer, Murder, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Child death, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, and Addiction
Minor: Sexual assault and Rape
quiet_reader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Infidelity, Excrement, Sexual assault, Addiction, Drug abuse, Body shaming, and Drug use