Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter

14 reviews

bekieboo's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and War

theinfamousj's review

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

This is the second novel I have read by Cara Hunter, so you can say that I am a fan of her twists and turns. I notice that consistently, she has a nanny character who ends up in a relationship with the father who employed said nanny, with the mother who employed said nanny being dead. As a professional nanny, I am not a fan of this trope. If anything, a nanny who sees the inside of the home and sees what kind of a husband the dad employer makes is absolutely LESS likely to abscond with said man, than a woman who can imagine him to be more consistent about picking up his dirty socks and putting down the video game controller.

That said, I am glad that my guess of some of the worst of human behavior and family dynamics weren't at play in this book. If anything, it ended up being a relief to learn why the deceased was unalived.

For those who did not realize, as I did not realize, the book is written as a series of television scripts for episodes of a reality television show which apparently has a panel of homicide experts solving cold case murders. This particular season that we are reading in this novel is season three or later. And, luckily, there is a lot of exposition for the non-British audience who might be watching/reading.

The cast of characters in the television show have the appearance of diversity of race, gender, nationality, and even sexual orientation, however I found myself unable to distinguish between them were not their names listed with their dialogue. It seems that Cara Hunter only wrote one character, but gave that character many names if you follow my meaning. For this, minus half a star.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Physical abuse and Sexual assault

juliacarlini's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide

mikaiten's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and War

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I thought this was an unhinged ride and the format of the book was super interesting and engaging!! there's a lot of twists all throughout and just when you think you have it figured out, you don't. however, the ending was lacking for me so I docked a star.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Racism, Suicide, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

readwithbp's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

martinkid45419's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

brandonssmead's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Car accident, and Alcohol

businesswife's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Such a cool crime novel! The blend of news clips, reddit threads, scene style dialogue, and texts is so cool and not something I have seen before. I really loved this book and flew through it due to the style. I also had NO I idea where the mystery was going do the twists ans turns it took which is unusual for me. Loved this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

warlocksarecool21's review

dark funny fast-paced

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

3.75

I have mixed feelings about certain things in this book but it was a wild ride. The concept of it being written as a teleplay was really cool and I thought the inclusion of articles and social media posts was fun too. Overall, I thought it was really engaging, like I didn’t want to put it down, which is what I want from a crime thriller. I thought the last third of the book was a little convoluted. The author uses cliffhangers and partial reveals to propel the story and it definitely worked sometimes, I thought it was too much at the end. She kept trying to fake us out about who the killer was, which again can be done effectively, but way too many characters got accused for me, like she was trying too hard with the shock value so the reveal of the killer wasn’t all that shocking because we eliminated everyone else. I also kind of guessed who the killer was before all this, not because of any clues but bc I was like wouldn’t it be funny/ironic if it was this character and then I was right. There were also certain things with the plot that I felt weren’t developed or explored all the way. Mainly, I think the part where

Nick, the producer, reveals that everything was orchestrated that all the cast members have a connection to the case somehow and some of the details just  thrown out there but it was never really reflected on. I was at least expecting more information on how Nick was able to do all this investigative work before calling on any of the experts that were on the show, and he mentioned some mysterious backers that he was doing all this for and it was never really revealed who it was. I know Bill was working for that one family but it was not clear who Nick was working for. The final thing I’ll bring up is Mitch’s whole storyline was so 🥴🥴🥴 to me. Like not necessarily the  fact that he had a relationship with Maura while she was very underage, while it’s still icky it could have been explored in a certain way that didn’t excuse it. His whole thing about how he was just a “kid” and didn’t know better like no you’re 21 you’re an adult. The whole thing was grooming of a young girl but no they were “in love”. While I’m not the one to definitively speak on this, I felt that certain parts of his character and plotline played into some racial biases, but I can’t say for sure.

 

My rant aside, I did have fun with this book and if you’re looking for a quick thriller to get out of a slump this is your book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Sexism, and Blood

Minor: Cancer, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Car accident