Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

11 reviews

alisonvh's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

A murder mystery within a murder mystery? What more could a girl want?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

karlin0336's review

lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

A nice, quick read that is addicting from start to finish!  I think I thought pretty much all the characters were the killer at some point in the story, lol.  The book had plenty of plot twists and a tense ending that did not disappoint.  I wasn't the biggest fan of Frances's POV (she and her friends were pretty unlikable as teens), but I get that her chapters were important since they had major implications for Annie's story in the present and were helpful in solving the mystery.
 I am definitely going to be reading the sequel that comes out next year!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

    The book was enjoyable, however, I enjoyed the flashbacks/diary entries more than the present-day portions of the book. I felt like the things that happened in the 1960s were more interesting and easier to get into than what was otherwise happening.

     Frances was much more interesting than Annie who was a bit boring, and whose story you didn't get into as much. I hope in future books we learn more about Annie and I start to care more about her & her character. Laura, Annie's mom just seemed awful for most of the book. 

    The characters were a mix of likable and unlikable. Not just the villains were unlikable, it was more like a 30/70 split of likable and unlikable for me. 

   I wasn't able to easily figure out the mystery. I do look forward to the next book.

Narrators' Rating: 4 stars

    I'd give Annie's narrator about 2.75 stars and Frances' narrator a 4-star rating. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Dementia

hjb_128's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Perrin is a unique take on a murder mystery that also employs a lot of classic tropes. It has the English estate and small town setting, secrets from the past, twisty family dynamics, greed, fear, passion, the amateur sleuth, the supportive best friend, and a dangerous gamble followed by a grand reveal.

I had a lot of fun with this book. Annie cannot resist a mystery, and she finds plenty to solve. I liked that she was curious and intelligent without being infalliable. Her medical fear also worked with the mystery and was consistent throughout the book. I also enjoyed her interactions with Detective Crane as they tried to solve her great-aunt Frances's murder.

This book really explores interpersonal dynamics through its present day investigation and the past timeline diary entries. It also looks at how much we can invest in something beyond ourselves, and how that can change your whole life.

I don't want to talk about the plot too much, but I love how Perrin basically weaves together two mysteries to explore friendship, family, obsession, and the ways people can or can't change. There's two closed circles of suspects (past and present) and they overlap in interesting ways.

I do wish we spent a bit more time getting to know some of the secondary characters and the village of Castle Knoll. Some of the diary entries were a bit long. On the other hand, I had suspicions but did not guess the murderer before the reveal.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death and Infidelity

Minor: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

bessadams's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit, Car accident, and Alcohol

agathajanemaud1908's review

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

I found the first few chapters a bit clunky, but then I got wrapped up in the mystery and finished this book in three days. A bit more tension in the climax and more details and background about the main character would have made this book even better. I also found some developments/theories of the mystery hard to follow.
Looks like this is book one of a series, so I’m looking forward to more mysteries involving Great Aunt Frances’ files! There’s a lot of potential for a great series involving the village of Castle Knoll.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Infertility, Blood, Vomit, and Car accident

Minor: Abandonment

chelbelle122's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

purplepenning's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

3.5

Really wanted to love it, but my interest kept wandering, which made it difficult to keep a large cast of characters in two different timelines straight. Great premise, but maybe a tighter edit would've been more to my tastes. I was unexpectedly bored and annoyed by the 1960s bright young things timeline — teen drama often affects me that way. And the present-day story managed to be both packed with clues and yet lacking a sense of urgency to drive it. I did enjoy that it felt like a fair, classical mystery, though — I had half of it figured out before the reveal.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

needles, including

attempted forced injection

burnedoutbookdragon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

WHAT I LIKED & DISLIKED ABOUT IT:
This read like the movie Clue for me. The right amount of cheesiness where it's not too cheesy but it's an ode to old-school murder mystery radio shows. I actually really liked the dual timelines where we get a perspective from teenage Great Aunt Frances. This was a fun and cozy read! I don't read a lot of mysteries and thrillers but I'm starting to become a fan. It looks like this is the first of a series and I'm looking for to the next one.

RECOMMENDATION:
If you like cozy mysteries and that old-school murder mystery vibes mixed with modern fun, I think you'll enjoy this. This isn't a mystery with a bunch of twists and suspenseful but thoroughly enjoyable. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Drug abuse