Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Such a Good Liar by Sue Wallman

2 reviews

thenovelbookshelf's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-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

3.0

This is a solid read, with a great premise and an open-ended ending. However, the revenge part lacked feeling and meaning that the whole journey for 'Lydia' was for nothing. 
  
Very much The Talented Mr Ripley meets revenge.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Bullying, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Alcohol, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Murder and Suicide

itsnotalakeitsanocean's review

tense 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? It's complicated

2.0

[Updating because somehow my review got eaten]

This book was extremely frustrating to get through. My points of praise would be that I enjoyed the setting, and I felt that the group of rich, spoiled teenagers that the main character wormed her way into were realistic as a friend group would go.

Such a shame then that the protagonist spends most of the book hesitating over going through with the murders she set out to do! I probably should have DNF'd when

she stopped the sisters from drinking the wine that she deliberately poisoned

but I suppose my curiosity was still piqued.

The ending also feels extremely rushed and one of the plot points,

the protagonist losing video evidence framing one of the sisters as a bad basketball player, proving her scholarship was forged

, goes completely unresolved despite the fact the protagonist made such a big deal about it.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Bullying, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Murder

Intriguing premise; terrible execution that lead the book to be subpar in my opinion. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the setting, seeing just how terrible the family the protagonist was targetting was, and learning the lengths that the protagonist went to go through to keep her identity a secret. It's just a shame then that she spends most of the book fretting over actually going through with the very thing she set out to do. I can understand feeling at least some hesitation about taking a life, but I knew things were only going to only get more annoying when

Lydia got cold feet out of nowhere and stopped the girls from drinking the wine that she had poisoned. I think it would have been more effective if she realised the gravity of her actions if one of the sisters had died and the other survived somehow.

I also felt the ending was a bit of a cop out and felt very rushed.

It also annoyed me when Lydia made such a huge deal over losing the footage needed to frame one of the girls, it gets recovered and it's then never used in any significant way. It seems like a plot thread that the author changed her mind about but then forgot to take out of the story.