hnagarne's reviews
258 reviews
Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter
4.0
murder in the family is a book about a tv show about a murder. it is written largely in teleplay format, and it really felt like i was watching a true crime doc. while i know the format may not work for everyone, it certainly worked for me and i loved every aspect of it. i was reading every newspaper clipping, every forum thread, trying to find clues that would help me figure out the murder before the characters. while the characters themselves might fall short of the kind of depth i usually look for in a book, in this book i think it worked well: we are, after all, not really supposed to know them that well. they are essentially characters in a tv show, and we are reading each episode. we occasionally get other bits of media (newspaper clippings, emails, forum threads, even [transcribed] voicemails), but by and large we are supposed to be absorbing the book as if we are watching an eight-episode miniseries about an unsolved murder.
without giving too much plot away, luke ryder died 20 years prior, and his death is now being investigated on the latest season of infamous, directed by his very own stepson, guy howard, who was 10 at the time of his death. guy wants to know the truth of what happened, and his producer pulls together a team of experts including a journalist, forensic psychologist, retired NYPD detective, and others. together they are tasked with trying to solve what the Met could not: who killed luke ryder?
while i called the murder early, i still found this extremely enjoyable with a satisfactory number of red herrings that had me doubting my guess more than once.
it also had a bit to say about the predatory nature of true crime documentaries themselves which i found fascinating, and i kind of wish they'd been able to delve a bit more into it. however i recognize the format probably prevented the detailed discussion i was hoping for.
spoilers for the ending:
without giving too much plot away, luke ryder died 20 years prior, and his death is now being investigated on the latest season of infamous, directed by his very own stepson, guy howard, who was 10 at the time of his death. guy wants to know the truth of what happened, and his producer pulls together a team of experts including a journalist, forensic psychologist, retired NYPD detective, and others. together they are tasked with trying to solve what the Met could not: who killed luke ryder?
while i called the murder early, i still found this extremely enjoyable with a satisfactory number of red herrings that had me doubting my guess more than once.
it also had a bit to say about the predatory nature of true crime documentaries themselves which i found fascinating, and i kind of wish they'd been able to delve a bit more into it. however i recognize the format probably prevented the detailed discussion i was hoping for.
spoilers for the ending: