Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - هشت قتل حرفه ای

Wish we could do partial stars, but some we can’t, I’ll round up to four. I generally like Peter Swanson’s books. And I enjoyed this one too. The main issue I had with it is the same one I have with most cat-and-mouse stories - there’s nowhere really to go after the reveal. So as much as I enjoy most of the book, the endings often feel forced and hackneyed. I did like the format of the book starting out as a memoir. Reminded me a bit of Humbert’s confession. And like Humbert, the protagonist was really hard to like, especially as he revealed more and more of himself. The more I disliked him, the more I looked the book, which is usually the opposite for me.

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mohaa's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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sophia_dawn's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

This is the best thriller that I have read in a while. Using a severely unreliable narrator was a great way for the author to conceal the plot twists, and there were a lot. There were some very dark themes in this book, but I liked the cyclical aspect and how everything truly connected. It was intense and crazy.

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phantompansy's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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uchihas's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.0

i honestly never expect anything from the books i'm reading, but especially when the recommendations come from tiktok. i'd heard people rave about this one and despite not expecting anything i was still disappointed. i kept waiting for something interesting to happen. the protagonist is insufferable. absolutely could not stand him. the ONLY plus sides were that the minor characters weren't too bad, and there was a cat who stays safe and sound throughout the entire novel. 2 stars for the cat.

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the_endless_void's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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novi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

3.0

I enjoyed it. It's not a fast action-packed thriller, but I'd say it's a pretty cozy read because it's set in the winter time, there are a lot of talks about mystery books in it, it's also set in a book store, and it's not very suspenseful. I never really felt that the stakes were high, even after we know the villain. So yes for me it's a bit anti-climatic, but it makes a pretty cozy read (and I already watched a review that said that the villain wouldn't be satisfying, so my hopes were not high). I recommend this for mystery book lovers just for all the books discussions and homages in this book.

But let me rant a bit here:

I already guessed the killer before it was revealed because even after 70% of the book, there is still no other character introduced. There is no way the killer would be someone that wasn't introduced to the readers. There's Tessa, but she's too unlikely. Gwen was already so weird since the beginning but she's also very unlikely. And our main character was already quite sinister so I wasn't surprised when he revealed that he also killed his wife. And I didn't even care about his wife!! So when he revealed that, as if he was hoping he'd be seen as the supervillain, I was just like, "okay..."

I think it's worth repeating that this book spoils the plot of many mystery/thriller books, beside the "eight perfect murders", there were also other books that were spoiled here, so make sure to do some googling about it if you don't wanna get spoiled.

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