Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

154 reviews

acuteepi's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Good for anyone who loves a good mystery 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Murder

britt_zey's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny 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? N/A

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

heresyourletter's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

I was excited to read this book as an avid cozy mystery reader. It had a great cast of characters and funny, well-written dialogue, but I found the pacing slow and

hated the overuse of unnecessary suicides/“mercy killings” as a way for characters to get out of their problems. Their suicides didn’t really contribute to the overall plot and almost trivialized the horror of suicide and its impact on surviving loved ones. The suicide of a devout Catholic nun in front of a church altar is particularly horrifying and unrealistic given her faith background. I feel other methods could have been used to write characters out of the main story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Terminal illness, Dementia, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, and Pregnancy

One character mourns the death of her husband throughout the book. One character mentions cheating on his wife through online dating with younger women. Another character mentions leaving her partner finding texts on his phone. One character is non-responsive after a stroke for the majority of the book. One minor character has dementia. One character tells a fake story about killing a man who tried to sexually assault her. Occasional drinking of wine and beer. Brief disparaging comment about the Nigerian Prince scam.

One murder victim and several other characters are revealed to have been involved in drug dealing before the book’s events begin. A priest and a nun are revealed to have had a sexual relationship, resulting in a pregnancy. Three different characters die by suicide. One is a pregnant nun, who hangs herself in front of a church altar. One character injects another with fentanyl when it is revealed to the outside world that she murdered a criminal.

kimberlyswalters's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

The humor sprinkled throughout this book made it an absolute pleasure to read. The characters, their wit, and the balance of seriousness & light-heartedness had me laughing and tearing up. I highly recommend this to anyone of any age. I'm 26, but the perspective of life from an older person was refreshing and makes me want to appreciate my life more. My favorite bits are Joyce's journal entries. I'm not sure if I have a favorite character, but she had me smiling the most. I'm excited to read the other installments. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexism, Blood, and Pregnancy

divine529's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

This was a bit of an odd book for me. I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but if I was away, I never really felt compelled to pick it up. 
The setting was different and I really enjoyed the characters overall and their friendship, but the plot was a bit more complicated than it needed to be. There was so much going on and it often pulled me out of the story. So many murders and pieces at play and somehow everything was connected and wrapped up nicely at the end (for the most part). 
I figured out the killer for the first murder as soon as they walked on page because there's a stereotype with specific kinds of characters and it was disappointing that they fell into that same thing over and over again. The thing about knowing that though, it didn't explain anything and there really weren't many clues along the way to lead you there unless you squinted. Elizabeth just seemed to know everything from the start and pretended she didn't for the benefit of everyone else. Given her background that makes some sense, but still, it should be more of a group effort than one being a puppetmaster and everyone else the puppets to the point where several of the characters just kind of notice it and roll with it. The writing and pacing also had a lot of issues too. 
The relationships are truly where this book was in its element and some of the sleuthing was fun to read, but overall it was fun and I will probably continue just to see if they improve a bit, but slightly disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Violence, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Pregnancy

makerealityvanish's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

I'm not a huge crime reader, in fact it has been 5ish years since I read one. I really loved this one. It was exactly what I needed after reading Wuthering Heights. It was a fast paced and engaging read. I wouldn't usually think to describe a crime book as cosy and sweet, but that is exactly how this one felt. I loved all the main characters. I laughed, I shed a tear. Cannot wait to read the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Dementia

Moderate: Eating disorder

bealittlebrave's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, and Murder

bootrat's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Grief

Minor: Xenophobia

paradoxchild's review

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Took me a bit to get into it. I don’t know why everyone is calling this light hearted it made me cry more than laugh. Also I think the audiobook would have benefited from a full cast, it was hard to tell people apart and whose POV we were in sometimes, especially with the diary entries.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Dementia

Moderate: Body shaming and Terminal illness

Minor: Pregnancy

chriswoody94's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence