Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

هشت قتل حرفه ای by Peter Swanson

18 reviews

letyreadsbooks's review against another edition

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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

 4.25/5

In this book, we get to read about Malcolm, who co-owns a bookstore in Boston. Some time before the story began, Malcolm wrote a blog about the perfect eight murders (based on classic mystery books). The story begins with a FBI officer in his business questioning him about the blog post as there have been some murders similar to the ones posted in his blog. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the story; the story had great twists while others were easily predictable. Can't wait to read more books written by Peter Swanson. 

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sandysmith'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? Yes

3.5

Not my favourite Peter Swanson read but it's likeable enough. It's based on a blog, written by book shop owner Malcom (Mal) Kersha, whereby he chooses 8 book "perfect murders".  This book does contain spoilers for these 8 books if you haven't read them, but this is necessary for the storyline as it appears that there is a person copying these books and murdering. So, the ABC murders is used, but the killer uses bird themes as an example. Mal is not particularly likeable, but how the story develops is interesting. It's great,
cleverly plotted murder mystery, but unfortunately, not one of Swansons' finest.

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leahlovesloslibros's review against another edition

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

3.5

This was a quick, compelling read. I kept trying to figure out who "Charlie" was, and while there were some red herrings, the culprit did make sense. There were some good twists in the book, and they were appropriately spaced apart, making the story believable.
On a related note, I liked that the narrator became less reliable as the story went on and unraveled.
I would recommend this book, especially to book lovers.

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julieyael's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad 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? No

3.75

Nicely written, with a lot of plot twists. The tension builds up and each new element made me want to read further. 
Though, without spoiling, I would say that the last chapters with the « big reveal » where a bit underwhelming for me. 
I did not find out the explanation, and was surprised, but I was expecting something a little bit more impressive. 
A good read, which makes me want to read more from this author. 

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flutelover32's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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catriona176's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.5


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hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

Predictable but in a nostalgic old timey way. 

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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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cyarrow's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-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

2.25

I really wanted to love this book, but overall found it a bit slow and predictable. Glad I stuck with it, but won't read again. 

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ali_sun's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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? No

3.5

It was a good book. The beginning was intriguing and had me wanting to continue but it wasn’t a strong compulsion. It wasn’t until at least halfway through that I didn’t want to stop reading and wanted to know what we were going to find out next. And bonus, there are some good recommendations for books throughout. 

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