Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter

15 reviews

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).

---

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

fengxin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

i adore books in an unusual formatting and this one delivered at every turn. the characterization was incredible and with a cast this wide it's a testament to the author's talent that they all managed to feel so real. i felt like i was watching an actual tv show, the way the forums and even spoiler free review articles were included made it even more so. the plot wasn't the greatest but the twists and the way they each were presented kept me absolutely hooked. i couldn't put this book down.

the way the entire team was connected in some way to the story, i was losing my mind every time a new link was revealed. mitchell being a pedophile? god that one hurt i really liked him; and laila with the "did she love you?" pissed me off so bad. she was 15, he was 21, he should be in prison. as for the big reveal, i thought it was one of the sisters but for it to be guy? i was baffled.

overall, a good book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Hate crime, and Car accident

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

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Hate crime and Racism

Minor: Homophobia

phil266's review against another edition

dark mysterious relaxing fast-paced

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

4.75

Great book! Twists are insane. Liked the format of it being like a series of evidence. Fun read!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Suicide, and Death of parent

judassilver's review against another edition

challenging dark informative 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

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Dementia and Car accident

Minor: Hate crime and Homophobia

thebiblioboo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Racism, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

vikiskiwis's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Mental illness

Minor: Hate crime

martinkid45419's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

brandonssmead's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

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

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Car accident, and Alcohol

kmsander4's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

What an interesting writing style! Creating a round table true crime documentary, designed to solve a 20 year old murder to carry the story was ingenious. I absolutely ate it up.

My one critique is that I was fairly easily able to guess the murderer early on and even picked up on the majority of the surprises as we went. I think some of those could have been masked a bit better. However, I will say that the twist in the last couple of pages was done exceptionally well, I hadn't really expected that one at all.

100% would read plenty more books written just like this! Maybe my new favourite subgenre of true crime fiction.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Hate crime and Sexual assault