Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

26 reviews

hollewade's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

Whoa, I liked Magpie Murders but this had me on the edge of my seat. I liked the format of this a lot more than I did Magpie, I felt I had more stakes in the story of Atticus Pünd and I was very shocked at the ending of both stories. I found it very easy to read and I enjoyed it very much. I would very much like Susan to rid herself of Alan Conway and Atticus, I think she's been through enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Outing

Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident and Abortion

tweesee_93's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content and Suicide

Minor: Domestic abuse and Racism

_nb123's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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? No

5.0

A delightfully twisty murder mystery within a murder mystery. Surprisingly fast read

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Racism, Violence, Car accident, Murder, and Sexual harassment

books_and_cream_cheese's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-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

1.5

Das Konzept des Buchs, eine Kriminalgeschichte in einer Kriminalgeschichte einzubetten und beide zu verknüpfen, finde ich fantastisch - leider lässt die Umsetzung meiner Meinung nach noch etwas Potenzial offen. Die beiden Elemente hätten an der ein oder anderen Stelle besser verknüpft werden können. Die Handlung, die leider einige problematische Entscheidungen und Beschreibungen seitens des Autors enthält (so sind z.B. sämtliche homosexuellen Charaktere als verachtenswert und pervers dargestellt), aber zwischenzeitlich durchaus spannend ist, führt leider zu einem etwas enttäuschenden Ende. 

Für mich persönlich war es auch sehr offensichtlich, dass hier ein männlicher Autor aus Sicht einer Frau erzählt. Die Art und Weise, wie die Protagonistin die Männer und ihre Beziehung zu ihnen beschreibt sowie einige seltsame Formulierungen lassen das sehr offensichtlich werden. 

Alles in allem ein spannendes Konzept, das in der Ausführung jedoch enttäuscht. Daher leider nichts für mich. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Pregnancy

poplartears's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Murder

lisaarnsdorf's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I really struggled with how to rate this book. I hated some aspects of it and really enjoyed others. But overall, the negatives outweigh the positives for me.

On the plus side, it’s really well written with elements and wordplay woven through that are truly mind boggling. I really liked the story within the story. 

But the present day mystery was such a bummer. Horowitz clearly wanted to tie the current murder back to the first story. But the aspect of Alan Conway’s life he chose to build out was his sexuality. And he did it by making all of the gay characters in the story terrible people who were terrible because they were gay. Right from the ghetto, having the murder victim be yet another gay man left a bad taste in my mouth. But the predators he turned the gay men into was totally unnecessary and sickening. 

I almost didn’t finish the book. I should have listened to that intuition. The reveal only made the gay men into worse villains than they started as. 

It’s a shame that such a well crafted book should rely on such hate.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Violence

Minor: Murder

hward's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Blood, Antisemitism, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

atalea's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Outing

unaesthetic_reading's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

lzad's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, and Infidelity

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Toxic relationship