theinkwyrm's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.0
Well I enjoyed that more than I'd anticipated. I feel like the dual perspectives kept the pacing fast and compelling and the POVs were almost equally matched as far as enjoyment. While I didn't enjoy Flynn's POV quite as much as Kane's, the courtroom drama elements helped even that up. I also appreciated that while Flynn is clearly a modern day version of the hardboiled detective, he lacks for the most part (although not completely) the misogyny that is generally typical of that trope. The only thing that you really have to suspend your disbelief for (or at least I did) was that Kane is not only a psycopathic and sociopathic serial killer but that he also has a rare disorder that means he can't feel pain (which is mentioned pretty early on), which is honestly just kind of overkill if you ask me. But I still enjoyed his POV enough that it didn't bother me enough to want to stop reading. Overall, a pretty solid thriller that you can enjoy without having read the first few books in the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death
emmagalt's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, and Outing
siniandi's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
Within the thriller category, this is one of the best there is right now. It is fast paced and really engaging; one of those books you read within two days, because you can't really bring yourself to stop reading. The plot was developed quite well and I didn't see the final twists coming at all! The book fails the Bechtel test, but those looking for a tense thriller with good entertainment value will be happy with this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Police brutality, Violence, Torture, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Gore, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Rape
martin27's review against another edition
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? No
2.75
To be honest I don’t know what made me pick up this one. It’s not what I normally read. I prefer character driven stories, usually. This is… not that. But more than just being plot-driven, the characters are all very bland. They’re basically indistinguishable from one another. They all speak the same way and do the same things. By far the characters I liked the most were Harper and Delaney, but not for anything unique or interesting they did as much as having literally even one defining characteristic to set them apart from the other characters (that trait is that they’re women, by the way. That’s the only thing that makes them different from everyone else in any way.).
There were a few good twists, the actual mystery element was fine. The pacing is… odd. The whole book takes place during one week, but it really doesn’t feel that way when reading. The first half especially dragged, but it picked up after that.
If you like crime dramas, you’ll probably get more out of this than I did. I can’t fault it for being a genre I just generally don’t care for. But I do wish that the characters had been a bit more defined and that the pacing made more sense. It also alternates between first and third person pov, which was… not my favorite choice. Eddie’s perspective is so bland that writing it in first person doesn’t add anything to the story, and Kane’s isn’t special enough to warrant a change in the pov.
There were a few good twists, the actual mystery element was fine. The pacing is… odd. The whole book takes place during one week, but it really doesn’t feel that way when reading. The first half especially dragged, but it picked up after that.
If you like crime dramas, you’ll probably get more out of this than I did. I can’t fault it for being a genre I just generally don’t care for. But I do wish that the characters had been a bit more defined and that the pacing made more sense. It also alternates between first and third person pov, which was… not my favorite choice. Eddie’s perspective is so bland that writing it in first person doesn’t add anything to the story, and Kane’s isn’t special enough to warrant a change in the pov.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Outing and Ableism
Minor: Rape
tahliakite's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Gun violence, Murder, and Stalking
ladysmartypants's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Police brutality
bookthief's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.75
This book follows a clever serial killer in the act of murder and in trial. There’s a plot twist of the killer being on the jury, but will the infamous Eddie Flynn find him before it’s too late. This book is intense and graphical.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, and Self harm
lostcupofstars's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
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
3.75
This was good and had the potential to be a really excellent read. I don’t normally read crime fiction but this came highly recommended. The plot was really well thought out - even while knowing that the killer is on the jury, there are still a number of things that keep you on your toes.
Where it let itself down was the character development. I know that this is #4 in a series of books about this same lawyer, but they can also be read a stand-alone books. I think there are way too many characters, very few of which are developed and this means that some of the parts that are supposed to be shocking don’t land the way they should. I found myself having to flick back to figure out who the reveal character was and what I had missed.
The action scenes were also really hard to follow, a little bit too much was left to the imagination and I had to keep rereading paragraphs to understand what had happened.
THAT being said, I did enjoy reading this. The things I listed stopped it from being a 5 star read, but once I hit the 60% point I had to finish it and stayed up til 3am to do so.
Where it let itself down was the character development. I know that this is #4 in a series of books about this same lawyer, but they can also be read a stand-alone books. I think there are way too many characters, very few of which are developed and this means that some of the parts that are supposed to be shocking don’t land the way they should. I found myself having to flick back to figure out who the reveal character was and what I had missed.
The action scenes were also really hard to follow, a little bit too much was left to the imagination and I had to keep rereading paragraphs to understand what had happened.
THAT being said, I did enjoy reading this. The things I listed stopped it from being a 5 star read, but once I hit the 60% point I had to finish it and stayed up til 3am to do so.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Car accident, Classism, Death of parent, and Hate crime
Minor: Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Rape
isabelatms's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, Blood, Gun violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
asourceoffiction's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.0
I may have to read the whole Eddie Flynn series after starting with this explosive book. I love the dual perspectives in the chapters, so we immediately begin to get inside the serial killer's head. But it managed to keep enough surprise for a great twist reveal at the end.
I also found the courtroom drama really interesting; it was written in just the right way to present facts and evidence that made me question the verdict, but it never got bogged down in lists of facts. Court scenes have to be so static that they risk being repetitive but this was really interesting.
Part thriller, part legal drama, part murder mystery. It's such an enjoyable story.
I also found the courtroom drama really interesting; it was written in just the right way to present facts and evidence that made me question the verdict, but it never got bogged down in lists of facts. Court scenes have to be so static that they risk being repetitive but this was really interesting.
Part thriller, part legal drama, part murder mystery. It's such an enjoyable story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Rape