Scan barcode
fagis_crumpet's review against another edition
4.0
A wonderful pan of tasty word soup. It's probably not for everyone, especially if you like your crime thrillers at 9 twists per hour. But, if like me, you love 2 pages worth of beautiful prose about someone using their big toe to move a coffee table so they can flick their cigarette ash into a marble ashtray, so much so that your toe curls in sympathy, then this is the book for you.
llynnmcd's review against another edition
5.0
This book kept me guessing the whole time. I loved it!
hanson412's review against another edition
2.0
I normally love Tana French's books; however I could not get into this one at all. I didn't like the characters and found it way to slow. The book dragged. By the time I got in about 300 pages I just skimmed the remainder of the book. Very disappointed.
laurlyne's review against another edition
5.0
Tana French is one of my favorites and she does not disappoint yet again! It was a long book and probably didn’t get into the heart of the mystery until about 150 some pages in at least. But after finishing the story, I see why there was so much backstory and history. Her characters are always so well developed and the story weaves quickly even though the book is long. I’d recommend this to anyone interested in a book that’ll have you guessing over and over until the very end.
sdecoste's review against another edition
4.0
Toby is young, single, in love with Melissa, and gainfully employed. His world comes crashing down around him, literally, when he is beaten near to death by intruders in his apartment. He needs to rest and heal his confused brain, so he moves into the ancestral home with his Uncle Hugo, who has terminal brain cancer. Toby's two cousins, Susanna and Leon, whom he grew up with, come to visit often. Toby remembers their childhood fondly, but he recently detects a note of tension when they visit. When one of Susanna's young children find a skull in an old tree on the property, things get really tense and suspicions arise. I love a character driven book. And this novel was wonderfully written, but it is the most wordy book I've read in a long, long time. Every single thought that goes through Toby's head is shared with the reader. The build up to the actual mystery takes forever. Very interesting, but not for someone looking for a fast read.
lizblakewhite's review against another edition
3.0
I love Tana French - this one wasn’t my favorite. I just couldn’t get behind the protagonist, and maybe I wasn’t supposed to, but it made the book less enjoyable. Even so, her insight into human relationships and what needs to happen to push people to their worst is authentic and always surprising.
juliecolsen21's review against another edition
3.0
This would have been much more enjoyable to read if it was about 100 pages shorter. Some sections completely pulled me in, others felt repetitive.
mhorton510's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
annarosereads's review against another edition
3.0
This is really a book in 3 parts. The first is a slow look at the life of a young dude-bro and it’s collapse. It’s well done but not particularly exciting. The second is the mystery of the body in the tree. This was electrifying and if the book had ended here I would have given it 5 stars. The last part is this long unnecessary slog that in some ways weakened the power of the second story.