Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Watchers - Wissen kann tödlich sein

I’m so divided when it comes to The Minders. On the one hand, the main idea was so intriguing, and all the characters were interesting but on the other hand, it lacked some depth and didn’t always make sense.

Five people are chosen for a special program where they are trained to become minders. This means that a piece of DNA is hidden inside their head which has all the secrets in this world kept. This premise was so good, and I love how we as the reader also don’t get to know the secrets but only some fragmented pieces that the characters make reference to. I can’t talk too much about the rest of the plot without spoilers, but it shows us how differently the people deal with the situation – and most of this is quite dark and sad. But what I can tell is that my least favorite story line was the one around Bruno since it was so weird how he

becomes a serial killer and starts to imagine people. Yes, it is explained why this happened, but I still didn’t like it. It was also so sad how he had to abandon his autistic son for the program

The first half of the book was not as good, since it’s quite slow and even boring in some parts. For example, the training for becoming a minder is not shown which would be so interesting. In general, the book dealt in a provocative way with contemporary topics, but some plot points were a bit cliché and predictable. Also, can we talk about the book page called Readwell were the main characters communicated with each other? I loved it lmao.

After the first half, the book became better and even more disturbing with

all the deaths, like Sinead’s (I felt so sorry for her how no one was listening to her), Bruno’s (I felt sorrier for his son Louie than for him tbh), and Charlie’s

. Sadly, the ending itself didn’t make so much sense and was not satisfying:

Apparently, Emilia was the killer and everything else was just her imagination. She also was the creator of the program and killed herself in the end. I just don’t know which message The Minders wanted to send with this ending since it means that all the deaths were basically pointless

The Minders made me interested in what other books Marrs has written since they take place in the same universe but this one just lacked some things for me to be more than a good read.

Content Warnings

12grace4's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

whatsjessreading's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

Content Warnings

deepfriedcynic's review against another edition

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slow-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

2.0

John Marrs has made me realize something about my taste in thrillers. After quite enjoying Passengers last year, I picked up The One and pre-ordered this book because I was sure I would like them just as much. Now, having DNFd The One halfway through and finished this one only by sheer force of will, I’ve had to look a little closer, and I think I’ve discovered the difference: scale.

The big difference between Passengers and the other two is that the vast majority of the plot takes place during the same day; while the book has the same multitude of POVs as The One and The Minders, and each character has their own particular drama, the story never has the opportunity to stray too far from the fact that each of them is in imminent danger. I think this consistent feeling of urgency is both something I personally need to be invested in a thriller novel, and something severely lacking here.

Not only did I spend most of my time reading this book bored and wondering what the point of literally anything that was happening was, by the 75% mark I was so annoyed by every single character that I didn’t care if any of them survived. It felt more like five separate and equally uninteresting plots than five parts of any kind of cohesive whole. It seems harsh to say I only finished this book because I paid full price for it, but unfortunately it’s also true.

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