Reviews tagging 'Violence'

How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

22 reviews

rach_murph17's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Great mystery that had me questioning everything for most of the book. I should have trusted my gut from the beginning about Emily’s murder but it was nice to have my mind work to deduct how and why. The growth of Annie and her confidence was great to read. Very well done and not a very simple culprit to figure out compared to other mystery novels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Violence

lrenkate's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this cozy, small town mystery. I liked the main character, the chapters from her great aunt’s diary, and the historic mystery component. Exactly what I wanted as a palate cleanser.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Toxic friendship

Minor: Violence and Pregnancy

fkshg8465's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Really needed to DNF this book, but it was so easy to read that I decided to finish it for the sake if finishing it. It tried too hard to be like Agatha Christie, and I was bored from start to finish. The story was weak and so was the storytelling. The plot would’ve had more draw for me if there focus had been on Rose and Emily’s psychological makeups, but rather, the emphasis was on the parallel competition the characters all had of trying to solve the mystery while many of them also were trying to misdirect their own guilt/perception of guilt. Snooze.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

    The book was enjoyable, however, I enjoyed the flashbacks/diary entries more than the present-day portions of the book. I felt like the things that happened in the 1960s were more interesting and easier to get into than what was otherwise happening.

     Frances was much more interesting than Annie who was a bit boring, and whose story you didn't get into as much. I hope in future books we learn more about Annie and I start to care more about her & her character. Laura, Annie's mom just seemed awful for most of the book. 

    The characters were a mix of likable and unlikable. Not just the villains were unlikable, it was more like a 30/70 split of likable and unlikable for me. 

   I wasn't able to easily figure out the mystery. I do look forward to the next book.

Narrators' Rating: 4 stars

    I'd give Annie's narrator about 2.75 stars and Frances' narrator a 4-star rating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Dementia

lauramcc7's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Classism

finnc's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Vomit

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Sexual content

Needles

hjb_128's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

sabrinaleaf's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

I don’t think there was that much investigating in this book. And yet I still felt myself enthralled seeing the mystery unravel, I love family secrets mystery novels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

bibliomania_express's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Perrin is a unique take on a murder mystery that also employs a lot of classic tropes. It has the English estate and small town setting, secrets from the past, twisty family dynamics, greed, fear, passion, the amateur sleuth, the supportive best friend, and a dangerous gamble followed by a grand reveal.

I had a lot of fun with this book. Annie cannot resist a mystery, and she finds plenty to solve. I liked that she was curious and intelligent without being infalliable. Her medical fear also worked with the mystery and was consistent throughout the book. I also enjoyed her interactions with Detective Crane as they tried to solve her great-aunt Frances's murder.

This book really explores interpersonal dynamics through its present day investigation and the past timeline diary entries. It also looks at how much we can invest in something beyond ourselves, and how that can change your whole life.

I don't want to talk about the plot too much, but I love how Perrin basically weaves together two mysteries to explore friendship, family, obsession, and the ways people can or can't change. There's two closed circles of suspects (past and present) and they overlap in interesting ways.

I do wish we spent a bit more time getting to know some of the secondary characters and the village of Castle Knoll. Some of the diary entries were a bit long. On the other hand, I had suspicions but did not guess the murderer before the reveal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death and Infidelity

Minor: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

puddleshoes's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse