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jve's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
A quick, easy mystery/thriller read. It was fast-paced and had enough intrigue to keep it a page-turner, but I had already suspected the final twist before it happened.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Medical content, and Murder
kittygrh1127's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
the only thing I didn't believe was how much I despised that ending lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
melshoo's review against another edition
challenging
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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Blood, and Murder
jhasfurther's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The ending is good but not very satisfying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, and Abandonment
ecurtin222's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
Dude, wtf
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
syazahaniss's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.0
Can’t figure out whether I like this book. The plot had potential and many times I did find myself mildly surprised at the revelations, but it wan’t enough to get me to turn the pages any faster.
The story was quite easy to follow but the author kind of rambled a lot at some points, and there were way too many characters/POVs for me to keep track of that I found myself merely skimming through most of the time.
Sidney’s death was rather surprising, as would the death of any main character so I liked that little plot twist. What I want to know is what happened to Marshall and Grace, and why Ellie of all people took the blame for Sidney’s death. Overall, could be better if all these questions were answered by the end of the book.
The story was quite easy to follow but the author kind of rambled a lot at some points, and there were way too many characters/POVs for me to keep track of that I found myself merely skimming through most of the time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Murder
cassidy_rain's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“To kill someone required perfection, timing, and luck. I hoped all three were with me this evening.”
This is the second book I’ve read by this author and certainly won’t be my last. This is the perfect read for true crime and crime documentary lovers.
Don’t Believe It follows Sidney; she’s a documentary maker who has a knack for making documentaries on the wrongfully accused and imprisoned. Her newest documentary is showcasing Grace, who may or may not have been wrongfully convicted of killing her boyfriend on a vacation ten years prior. Sidney is her last chance at an acquittal.
Since Sidney makes documentaries, it switches back and forth between the actual storyline and the “documentary” that she’s developing as the story moves along. It took me a minute to get used to this writing style, but once I did I flew through this. I really liked that the story follows the documentary timeline. It’s very cool to find out info at the same time as the investigator (and world watching the documentary essentially).
A few things felt maybe a little far fetched or left me with questions, but overall I was pretty satisfied how it all tied together. I kept switching who I thought the actual murderer was chapter by chapter, but was still left baffled and surprised. Little clues are left throughout the story to steer your mind in all directions, along with enough clues that makes the final reveal make sense and feel satisfying. I’m by no means an expert in crime scenes or autopsies, but the way he writes these scenes are super fleshed out and realistic feeling. It really did feel like watching an episode of dateline. The ending felt a little abrupt, but overall I liked it.
Would highly recommend picking this up!
This is the second book I’ve read by this author and certainly won’t be my last. This is the perfect read for true crime and crime documentary lovers.
Don’t Believe It follows Sidney; she’s a documentary maker who has a knack for making documentaries on the wrongfully accused and imprisoned. Her newest documentary is showcasing Grace, who may or may not have been wrongfully convicted of killing her boyfriend on a vacation ten years prior. Sidney is her last chance at an acquittal.
Since Sidney makes documentaries, it switches back and forth between the actual storyline and the “documentary” that she’s developing as the story moves along. It took me a minute to get used to this writing style, but once I did I flew through this. I really liked that the story follows the documentary timeline. It’s very cool to find out info at the same time as the investigator (and world watching the documentary essentially).
A few things felt maybe a little far fetched or left me with questions, but overall I was pretty satisfied how it all tied together. I kept switching who I thought the actual murderer was chapter by chapter, but was still left baffled and surprised. Little clues are left throughout the story to steer your mind in all directions, along with enough clues that makes the final reveal make sense and feel satisfying. I’m by no means an expert in crime scenes or autopsies, but the way he writes these scenes are super fleshed out and realistic feeling. It really did feel like watching an episode of dateline. The ending felt a little abrupt, but overall I liked it.
Would highly recommend picking this up!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
patientlysarah's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
rachele's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I found the pacing to be inconsistent which was frustrating and I came close to DNFing it a few times. Overall I’m glad I stuck with it, the last chunk was faster paced and gave me that ‘page turner’ feeling. A few of the reveals I figured out but some were surprises. It felt like some clues were a bit heavy handed like the chess set, Grace even said she didn’t like the memory of it, come on Sidney, why did you miss this??? . I did feel like they stuck the landing with Sidney’s death, I was expecting her to miraculously recover like when we discover that Julian came to after being hit on the head , so that was satisfying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
rach2442's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder