Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Hinter den drei Kiefern by Louise Penny

13 reviews

mayab56's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

In the audiobook it was sometimes difficult to tell when the narrative moved between past and present storylines within a chapter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol

sdovi's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

The plot was interesting but the writing style was intentionally vague. The author would reference that the characters knew something but didn’t specify what that knowledge was to keep driving the narrative. It may be loved by some, but not by me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Murder

simply_fran's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, and Murder

sofiam19's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Blood, and Murder

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

So good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

atamano's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Gun violence

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

franklola's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

cathepsut's review

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

My first Gamache, but the 13th of the series, so I am most likely missing some context.

Gamache, the chief of police of the province of Quebec, is in the witness stand of a murder trial. The chief prosecutor is pretty hostile towards his main witness. Through the questioning we are told the story of the murder that happened in the village of Three Pines. So much for the beginning. There is more to it, with a pretty modern problem.

Slow. A lot of talking and reminiscing. Set-up for the community that lives in Three Pines and its guests. More talking. Little doing. The murder only happens a third into the book. And the accused sitting on that bench during the trial is never named, which in my opinion is a pretty lame gimmick to create suspense. Of which there was little to none. The last 30% are a bit more speedy, but the wrap-up is quite repetitive.

Some of the characters stay one-dimensional, I struggled to keep them apart until the end. The woman with the duck was just a silly caricature.

Many of my reading buddies love Gamache, but this was way too cozy for me. And the plot was a little silly. It is very unlikely that I will pick up another one of the series or by this author, unless I come by it very cheaply. Maybe #14…

2.5 pine cones, rounded up to 3 for the tears-inducing ending.

PS:
– Initially bought for my mum, who did not finish it. I should have listened to her reasons.
– I don‘t read many straight mysteries anymore and never in German, so this was a bit of an an uphill struggle.
– Reading a novel in German again wasn‘t as much work as I had feared.
– The first book of the series, Still Life, was made into a movie and I would watch it.
– The English original is called Glass Houses: A Novel, which is more meaningful for the book than the German title „Behind the Three Pines“.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Drug abuse

laurenleigh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

In the 13th Inspector Gamache novel, Louise Penny really mixes it up! The non-linear story structure was quite different from previous books in the series. It was tricky to do, starting at the trial but not revealing the killer/the defendant until the very end. Penny totally pulled it off, as expected! This series continues to feel fresh and exciting, even this far in, because Penny isn’t really writing about murder mysteries. She’s writing about larger concepts. In this case, the conscious. How do we depend on a conscious to steer us the right way when each person’s consciousness is so different? If our conscious tells us a law is immoral, which code do we follow? There is certainly a lot of gray area here, and it was interesting to watch Gamache struggle with these questions himself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Violence, and Stalking

luveloise3's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction and Suicide

Minor: Abortion