Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Murder in the Family

If I was rating Murder in the Family based on the mystery. It would be 4 stars. A reality TV series delving into the 20-year-old case of who killed Luke Ryder. The producer of the show is the murder victim's step‐ son who'd been 10 at the time of the murder. The panel of experts brought in to dig into the case include a reporter, a retired NYPD police officer, a retired Metropolitan Police member, a criminal attorney, a crime scene investigator, and a forensic psychologist. There are tons of plot twists. The ending was unexpected.

The reason I only rated it 3 stars was the unconventional format. Murder in the Family does not read like a normal story. Each "chapter" is a transcription of a broadcast of the show "Infamous- Who Killed Luke Ryder?" There are also e-mails between people involved on the show, voice-mail message transcriptions, screenshots of a reddit group discussing each episode, and text messages.

I read books for all of the stuff that goes on between the dialogue. For the point of view that allows insight into thoughts, feelings, observations, and memories. This book didn't have that. You were forced to read between the lines. Cara Hunter did a great job with this chosen format, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

Recommended for people who like true crime and people who don't mind the unconventional format.

My content warnings include - cursing, murder, and graphic detail of the body.

Content Warnings

k_shimer's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

thebiblioboo's review against another edition

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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

monarcadelibros's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

At first, I thought I'd really like this book and fly through it. While the story is fun, the formatting really distracted me and the arguments going in circles really prevented me from finding any motivation to finish.

Content Warnings

martinkid45419's review against another edition

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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

brandonssmead's review against another edition

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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

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businesswife's review against another edition

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mysterious 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? No

5.0

Such a cool crime novel! The blend of news clips, reddit threads, scene style dialogue, and texts is so cool and not something I have seen before. I really loved this book and flew through it due to the style. I also had NO I idea where the mystery was going do the twists ans turns it took which is unusual for me. Loved this book!

Content Warnings

warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

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dark funny fast-paced

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

3.75

I have mixed feelings about certain things in this book but it was a wild ride. The concept of it being written as a teleplay was really cool and I thought the inclusion of articles and social media posts was fun too. Overall, I thought it was really engaging, like I didn’t want to put it down, which is what I want from a crime thriller. I thought the last third of the book was a little convoluted. The author uses cliffhangers and partial reveals to propel the story and it definitely worked sometimes, I thought it was too much at the end. She kept trying to fake us out about who the killer was, which again can be done effectively, but way too many characters got accused for me, like she was trying too hard with the shock value so the reveal of the killer wasn’t all that shocking because we eliminated everyone else. I also kind of guessed who the killer was before all this, not because of any clues but bc I was like wouldn’t it be funny/ironic if it was this character and then I was right. There were also certain things with the plot that I felt weren’t developed or explored all the way. Mainly, I think the part where

Nick, the producer, reveals that everything was orchestrated that all the cast members have a connection to the case somehow and some of the details just thrown out there but it was never really reflected on. I was at least expecting more information on how Nick was able to do all this investigative work before calling on any of the experts that were on the show, and he mentioned some mysterious backers that he was doing all this for and it was never really revealed who it was. I know Bill was working for that one family but it was not clear who Nick was working for. The final thing I’ll bring up is Mitch’s whole storyline was so 🥴🥴🥴 to me. Like not necessarily the fact that he had a relationship with Maura while she was very underage, while it’s still icky it could have been explored in a certain way that didn’t excuse it. His whole thing about how he was just a “kid” and didn’t know better like no you’re 21 you’re an adult. The whole thing was grooming of a young girl but no they were “in love”. While I’m not the one to definitively speak on this, I felt that certain parts of his character and plotline played into some racial biases, but I can’t say for sure.

My rant aside, I did have fun with this book and if you’re looking for a quick thriller to get out of a slump this is your book.

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