Reviews with content warning for Stalking - De waarheid over de zaak Harry Quebert

Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

De waarheid over de zaak Harry Quebert by Joël Dicker

15 reviews

_bookishbrina's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

book genre: mystery & murder
pace: so very slow
storyline: ★★★★✩
characters: ★★★✩✩
character development: ★★★★✩
writing: ★★★✩✩
diversity: ★✩✩✩✩ (I think the sheriff's black? but like, that's all.)
attention to detail: ★★★★★
ending: ★★★★★
originality: ★★★★✩
trigger warnings: child abuse, fire, blood, rape

I don't know what to add. Pages 0-300 made me burn with rage. I thought it was boring, and by that point, I was reading it to destroy it in my review. I was wasting precious precious time. But the rest of the book... I was hooked.

We dive deep into the minds of the people of the town of Aurora, the sacrifices they've made, and the ones they are still willing to make. I thought the psychology behind each character was a bit predictive, and then I was proved that it was not. I thought I knew who the culprit was, and what were their motives - but I was wrong.

In other words, it was a fascinating tale.

This book is just improbable enough that I believe it could still happen today.

Content Warnings

itshardizzy's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.0

I've had read my fair share of mystery books, but this was different from the ones I'm used too. The book is set in 2008 but the mystery happened in 75', so the story goes back and forth.

The MC is Marcus, an best seller author that doesn't have the inspiration to write a second book. He goes to spend some time with his mentor, Harry Quebert which is later accused to have killed Nola, a 15 year old girl that disappeared in 75'. Marcus then set to find out what really happened that year and decides to write a story about the case.

The book is really slow and although there is a new founding every few pages, I found myself bored and struggling. I found some problematic things about the book, like the fact our main character doesn't really condone the relationship between Harry (a 30 years old man at that time) and Nola, which is basically the whole book plot. I felt like the author didn't really established the relationship as crime (which btw it is!!!)

the ones that understands that the relationship wasn't natural are set as nosy people or are in some way involved with the case.

In end the murderer wasn't really a surprise if you pay attention to the details.

and the author had the major opportunity to develop Nola's mental health but he never really talked about the with the depth and only showed the effects and said that she has it - not really naming it tho

It's a book that every mystery lover should read at least once to experience, and maybe you'll like it better than I did.

Content Warnings