Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Catch

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Catch by T.M. Logan

11 reviews

contemporarymeepsie's review against another edition

dark slow-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

1.5

SPOILERS FOR THE MAIN PLOT ARE INCLUDED IN THIS REVIEW.
The Catch is Ryan Wilson. He's a real catch, having all the hallmarks of being the best boyfriend that Abbie could ever wish for, but her dad Ed doesn't think so. From their first meeting he gets a feeling there's a catch to this perfect man.
Do you get it? Do you get the double entendre? If I could write a sentence that encapsulated me rolling my eyes then I would. Instead you'll just have to infer my heavy eye rolling whilst reading this review. I hated this book, as evidenced by the low score. I hated this book so much that by page 100 I wanted to stop reading but I didn't DNF as I have a goal this year to read every book club book and - you guessed it - this was a book club book. By the time I got to page 208 (51%) I decided if I had any hope of finishing this book then I had to swap to reading it in a different way, so I downloaded the audiobook and bombed through the last 6 hours in one day just so I could get through it.
Now for the actual review. This book was predictable, repetitive, lacked any sense of tension, repetitive, boring, had unlikeable characters, repetitive, unrealistic regarding wedding planning and oh did I mention it was repetitive? The first entire section had 40 chapters of Ed starting a chapter with being suspicious of Ryan, then halfway through he'd say 'hmm maybe I'm wrong?' And then by the end of the chapter he'd double down in his suspicions. Some were warranted whilst others were. Regardless every chapter followed this pattern and it was so boring to read. Eventually when something did finally happen, it was predictable and uninspired. I had been hoping it would flip what was happening and it would turn out

Abbie was the murderer or even Ed himself.

But sadly no interesting twist occurred. The only saving grace it had was that

Ed actually died. If he'd turned up at the end to save Abbie on the moors (because Ryan had been holding him hostage instead of just murdering him) I would have literally given this book 0 stars. Instead we had to deal with the unlikely event that Claire had woken up with a bad feeling, driven out to follow them and had just so happened to be in the right spot at the right time to hear her daughter's screams in the middle of a god damn Moor! Off the path!

My frustration aside, this book did not need to be 70 chapters long, it could have been half the length for a much more interesting, condensed and tense story. The lack of tension I believe was down to the prologue in which

we read a murder occurring.

Meaning that all of Ed's suspicions are valid from the very start. Literally removing that would start us off following Ed and wondering alongside him whether he's paranoid or not. It would have been so much more interesting, but because that snippet was included meant we knew from the start that

someone was a murderer and who else could it be other then the guy the book is named after?

What a waste of my time and energy. I would not recommend this book.

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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

3.0

I'm gradually adding books I've read in 2021 to give a true reflection of the books I've read since keeping records. This was the first book I read in 2021, and is what kick-started my reading journey having put reading on the back burner whilst bringing up the children, previously being an avid reader. A slowish start which builds. You really feel for the main character and his desperation as he feels that there is something off about is daughter's boyfriend. Stalking extraordinaire.

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halftimelord's review against another edition

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dark 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? Yes

2.75

The Catch isn't my normal genre and a lot of it was very predictable and cheesy. The choice to make Ed an unreliable narrator also made him a less likeable character and I don't think it was handled very well - it's pretty obvious that Ryan's a dodgy character!

The book did get better for me in the second half

after Ed disappears and the narrative switches to Abbie and Claire

. I felt like it was trying to be dark and gritty, especially towards the end, but mostly the shocks were funny more than anything. The final line is also very cheesy!

Not a book I'd normally choose so maybe I'm not the target audience, but I won't be picking up anything else from this author.

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alicew2000's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

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chloek608's review

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I recommend this book if you like:
-adult mystery
-not knowing which characters to trust
-thriller but only slightly

The book shows us from a dad’s point of view when his daughter gets a new fiancé and it is a very quick, whirlwind wedding. The dad is not trusting of Ryan and will do anything to prove his gut instinct is correct, including snooping and hiring a private eye.

This story is a page turner and kept me guessing and doubting what to believe. I am looking forward to watching this story unfold as a Channel 5 series.

Ryan has everyone fooled, thinking he’s a nice guy. What Ed uncovered was that Ryan had lied about his whole life. He actually killed his family in a house fire and then continued to kill and change his identity each time. Unfortunately, Ed had went to follow Ryan and took a knife with him so we are led to believe that he might kill Ryan. Next thing we know, Ed is missing in the moors of the Peak District along with a missing ex-boyfriend of Abbie’s. Abbie uncovers the truth while searching for her dad with Ryan. She read the private eye’s email report. I wish Abbie would have played it more cool and got help and got out of there. She continued to hike with Ryan and he then turned on her when she confronted him. He chased her and attacked her. Abbie’s mum showed up to rescue her and as a team they killed Ryan.

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