kathleensawa's review
3.0
3.5
The book opens with a detailed confession to a crime by an unreliable witness and much of the book is spent with the public proving her confession to be falsified and a select few believing in her version of the events.
The plot takes you through a twisted and sometimes overly complicated story and, while entertaining, was slightly implausible and predictable (to an extent). I did enjoy reading it and appreciate the authors style and unique take on a classic whodunit, but did not necessarily develop any attachment to the characters or even the victims.
The book opens with a detailed confession to a crime by an unreliable witness and much of the book is spent with the public proving her confession to be falsified and a select few believing in her version of the events.
The plot takes you through a twisted and sometimes overly complicated story and, while entertaining, was slightly implausible and predictable (to an extent). I did enjoy reading it and appreciate the authors style and unique take on a classic whodunit, but did not necessarily develop any attachment to the characters or even the victims.
kellyprob's review
2.0
If Stephen King wrote a basic police procedural murder mystery and replaced all the supernatural horror with drug stereotypes, it would read a lot like this. Maine/New England charm in the form of lobsters and weird accents: check. Cringe-y sexual “banter” clearly written by a middle aged white man: check! Not a compelling character in the book. No real surprises...
Hey—it takes a lot to write a book, and I’ve certainly never done it. Michael Koryta has. (several! A NYT best seller even!) Judging by the reviews/ratings on here, this is the right book for a lot of people. It was not for me.
Hey—it takes a lot to write a book, and I’ve certainly never done it. Michael Koryta has. (several! A NYT best seller even!) Judging by the reviews/ratings on here, this is the right book for a lot of people. It was not for me.
onetrackmind77's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
sjj169's review
3.0
3.5 stars
Kimberly Crepeaux is not known for telling the truth. She does the heroin, is a teen mom and now adds jail house snitch to her resume.
FBI investigator Rob Barrett is one of the few people who actually believes her story. After all she IS implicating herself in the murder of two local teenagers. She tells them where the bodies are and now Barrett just has to go find them.
The bodies turn up at a completely different location. Murdered in a different way than Kimmy told. So Barrett looks like a ding dong and gets sent off to the boonies.
Kimmy can't let it go though and keeps contacting him and when the father of the murdered girl joins up with her Barrett heads back to Maine.
So this book did drag in spots, but the thing kept me reading. I totally wanted to know how it was going to wrap up. The character development is pretty freaking awesome. The bad? Some of it didn't seem plausible but who cares? I still sorta liked it.
(Or read some books...)
Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.
Kimberly Crepeaux is not known for telling the truth. She does the heroin, is a teen mom and now adds jail house snitch to her resume.
FBI investigator Rob Barrett is one of the few people who actually believes her story. After all she IS implicating herself in the murder of two local teenagers. She tells them where the bodies are and now Barrett just has to go find them.
The bodies turn up at a completely different location. Murdered in a different way than Kimmy told. So Barrett looks like a ding dong and gets sent off to the boonies.
Kimmy can't let it go though and keeps contacting him and when the father of the murdered girl joins up with her Barrett heads back to Maine.
So this book did drag in spots, but the thing kept me reading. I totally wanted to know how it was going to wrap up. The character development is pretty freaking awesome. The bad? Some of it didn't seem plausible but who cares? I still sorta liked it.
(Or read some books...)
Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.
slhandy45's review
3.0
Clever mystery set in small town Maine but not a whole lot of depth. Fine for a beach read.
kathijo63's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
A solid murder mystery where you’re pretty sure you know who did it but enough curves are thrown in there to make you wonder.
bookhawk's review
3.0
How it Happened used a clever way to tell a story. A high three star mystery, I liked a lot of things about this book but struggled with disliking the main character.
itsdeebake's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75