Reviews tagging 'Death'

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter

53 reviews

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

2.5

This book tries to do the classic Agatha Christie format of a murder where everyone's a suspect. There's lots of red herrings and twists, but I was able to get close to the actual resolution pretty early on. It's written in "script" format though which really is the book's undoing - all the characters are indistinguishable, the narration and timeline becomes messy, and gets repetitive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse

bea_reads_books's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Originally I expected to give this book three stars, because it seems to be trying to make a point about the way true crime media often re-traumatizes victims and crosses boundaries in the pursuit of sensationalism. However it did not do this well, and that aspect fell flat. I bumped off another half star about half way through because of the casual sprinklings of racism/copaganda and zionism throughout, but it was the last 15% of the book that really pissed me off and caused me to put it at 2 stars. The end of this book is so disgustingly ableist, makes absolutely no fucking sense, and heavily leans into the demonization of mental heath conditions/trauma. It reinforces the idea that trauma makes people violent to the point of senseless murder. I am so angry right now, the book had a really great ending all mapped out, a road it could’ve taken, and instead it did exactly the same nasty shit that true crime tv so often does (which is ironic considering the author seemed to be *trying* to make a point about that).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Racism, Blood, Dementia, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Hate crime, Homophobia, and Car accident

kirstenpod_'s review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Racism, Car accident, and Pregnancy

abigaelf's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

lmatthysse's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

amira22's review against another edition

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

1.75

The mixed media was interesting in the beginning, but after a while it became annoying. I found most of the twists and turn predictable. On top of that, a relationship between a 15 year old en someone who is 21, and after a couple pages thats it? No consequences? 

*Note: English isn't my first language, so if there are any grammer mistakes or wrong use of words, that's why :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, and Death of parent

monicalaurette's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This story intrigued me from the first time I heard the concept, following along with a true crime show and trying to find the killer first? I love it. I also love mix media books so it was a fun little read.

Following along with the case and all its turns almost gave me whiplash and I can safely say I was not able to find out the killer before the experts did.

..but then again they learned at the same time as me so they didn't really win either

I was so sure it was one of the sisters...never suspected it wasn't them once it was all coming to a close but it made so much sense

REBECCA NO lmao

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic relationship

mellow_rose's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Took so long to get interesting and ended unsatisfyingly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

infjkiki's review against another edition

mysterious fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Car accident and Classism

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

Told in a multi-media format styled after a true crime documentary, MURDER IN THE FAMILY follows six experts trying to solve the cold case murder of Luke Ryder, who was killed in the garden of his expensive estate twenty years prior.

This was the May pick for my book club, and for some reason I was really hesitant to pick it up—probably because it wasn’t a book that was on my radar before it was chosen. Fortunately, once I finally read it I was pleasantly surprised! I found this one super enjoyable and entertaining the whole way through, LOVED the format (though heads up that I feel like this one would be VERY difficult to follow on audio and I’m glad I went with the ebook), and overall got relatively invested in the story.

I did feel like parts of the plot were very predictable and I saw all of the twists coming. I also thought the ending was a bit too “easy”—and honestly I wrote an entire alternate whodunit in my head that I like more.

Still, if you want a fun quick mystery, I would recommend this one, and I’m looking forward to discussing it with book club!

CW: Death/death of parent/murder; statutory rape; mentions of hate crimes, racism, and homophobia

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Hate crime and Racism

Minor: Homophobia