Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

14 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Wish we could do partial stars, but some we can’t, I’ll round up to four. I generally like Peter Swanson’s books. And I enjoyed this one too. The main issue I had with it is the same one I have with most cat-and-mouse stories - there’s nowhere really to go after the reveal. So as much as I enjoy most of the book, the endings often feel forced and hackneyed. I did like the format of the book starting out as a memoir. Reminded me a bit of Humbert’s confession. And like Humbert, the protagonist was really hard to like, especially as he revealed more and more of himself. The more I disliked him, the more I looked the book, which is usually the opposite for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

gellyreads's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Swanson continues to be a solid mystery author. Although I continue to wonder why he seems to be obsessed with

suicide and killers killing themselves

. I pretty much enjoyed this one. I sadly didn't see

him killing his wife coming

and didn't think too hard

about who the other killer was

, so was shocked about it. I enjoyed it for the fun ride I found it to be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Grief, and Murder

mohaa's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Car accident, and Murder

ali_sun's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

3.5

It was a good book. The beginning was intriguing and had me wanting to continue but it wasn’t a strong compulsion. It wasn’t until at least halfway through that I didn’t want to stop reading and wanted to know what we were going to find out next. And bonus, there are some good recommendations for books throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Infidelity, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

allie_ooop's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Grief, and Car accident

bookwormabby54's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Car accident

ekmook's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

uchihas's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.0

i honestly never expect anything from the books i'm reading, but especially when the recommendations come from tiktok. i'd heard people rave about this one and despite not expecting anything i was still disappointed. i kept waiting for something interesting to happen. the protagonist is insufferable. absolutely could not stand him. the ONLY plus sides were that the minor characters weren't too bad, and there was a cat who stays safe and sound throughout the entire novel. 2 stars for the cat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Islamophobia, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

kimberlyswalters's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I read this one in one sitting. I do have some things to nitpick. I am peeved because I did want to read a certain book myself.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

. I did read the list of books mentioned to judge what I needed to read ASAP, what I already knew, and what I wasn't interested in. That title and spoiler appeared out of nowhere (as it's not listed as one of the eight perfect murders). 

There was a slight error in one of his book descriptions too, so that was bothersome.

("Someone with a D name was the last person killed." In reference to The A.B.C Murders on page 7. That's a mistake. Someone with the wrong initials gets killed, but there was a D nearby which was thought to be the intended target, but in reality it didn't matter who they killed anymore because this killing was supposed to look sloppy.) I read that book less that 72 hours before picking this one up, so I know, unless the story was altered in my edition for some reason.

I really enjoyed the actual story of this book and I genuinely thought it had some good twists. I felt dread and tense at certain points. I like when a book actually makes me feel something in my chest, like something is really wrong and truly terrible. It was just the right amount of disturbing for me to still consider this a somewhat cozy mystery/thriller to lose yourself in.

[If this review sounds bonkers, it's because it's 6:08am and I need to sleep.]

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Car accident

the_endless_void's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug use, Pedophilia, Grief, and Car accident