Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

11 reviews

disguisedposer's review

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

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. 

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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

lauramcc7's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Classism

pial's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

teetasse's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, and Gaslighting

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.

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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

beepbeep101's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, and Pregnancy

goldenlake's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, and Alcohol

ms_elchert's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia, Vomit, Car accident, and Outing

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.

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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