2.5 stars
The first story was a cop out, the guy just fell in shock, no actual murder happened and whilst I do appreciate it in retrospect at the time of reading, it was a let down to have the first story end like that. The second story was a bit pointless since there were no suspects so we didn’t really get to see any of that deductive reasoning Sherlock and his brother possess, they were just running around like headless chickens or ‘like the faithful bloodhound’ as Poirot would put it. The last story was the best and whilst the culprit ends up being the only person Sherlock hasn’t mentioned as a potential suspect to Watson it was good, there were multiple suspects and Sherlock laid a nice little trap for them.

I know this was already short but what if I said it should have been 50 pages shorter?

It’s a bit repetitive until the ending which is the best part, particularly the last chapter- it did really read like Dexter or Hannibal.

Ro was slightly annoying for some reason even though I liked her lyrical and whimsical way with words, but I also did like the way she wouldn’t just go with every single little thing Ash said. But I think I found her a bit annoying because she was at the centre of the repetition, I had to read about her wearing her favorite jeans, flowy top, sandals and painted toes every chapter and I was over it the first time.

All in all, a good read and Ash is the biggest example of red flags to watch out for.

3.5
Well it ended up being who I suspected, granted I didn’t think Adam would go so far as to murder Amanda, just that he was somehow involved, whether with Amanda, or knew his dad was or knew that his mum had killed her. I think it would be one thing if he just hit her once or a few times but continuing to do so even after she was dead on the floor and smashed up, warrants more than 2 years in prison contrary to what Webb said, serious work on his anger management issues needs to be done, like courses throughout and after his sentence. Glenda murdering Carmine I got because the author made it obvious and wanted us to get it. But idk I just didn’t see Adam as having that sort of anger to kill Amanda so violently, it would have been better if the murder was premeditated by a person who has the constitution to be an efficient killer like Glenda. I also think that the lack of side plots apart from the Raleigh breaking in stuff which was obviously going to be something set up to help the investigation later on and all the infidelity, there was no other side plot to distract from the killers. The only thing was Adam being drunk and walking around drunk, and that mention immediately made me think his family had a connection to the murder because it was information given without an obvious necessity, and those are always clues when little other background info is given. The ending kind of made me go ooh, is there a sequel? But I’m glad it’s a standalone.
All in all, this was a fun read, I loved all the secrets everyone was hiding, but I didn’t particularly care for the characters too much, I think it would have been better to show a scene of that party in July, for us to get a feel of the neighborhood before the Pierces arrived to town and then after the murder. Two timelines would have been fun. Instead I did get a bit tired at around page 187/382 because it was dragging. But I was really eager to continue reading so this gets another half star making it 3.5.

I loved the reflections from the 70-75% mark to the end of the book. I loved how he reflected on how the people around him, and them being a reflection of the false life he felt he had lived, a life where prioritising decorum, comfort and the 'rules of society' meant that he was denied consolation, comfort and recognition from the people closest in his life. They instead chose to avoid the fact he was dying as if acknowledging it would jeopordize their comfort. But it was the life that he had built himself, as he had chosen to avoid his problems in his marriage and family and distract himself with work and furnishing the house. I did really enjoy his thoughts on what he thought his life had meant, but unfortunately, it wasn't as in depth and for as long as I wanted it to me, I thought the book was going to start and end with a man about to die reflecting on life. Instead I had to read about how he decorated a house. I did really like the ending though, that he felt that if his life had been one ill spent, untruthfully then in his final moments he could do good by saying sorry to his son, and feeling sorry for his wife.

Once I started the audiobook for this I couldn’t stop, there was something almost dream like about the narration, like someone was narrating this to you as you fell in and out of consciousness. And that works really well with the story which is about memory. My favourite part was when they were at Halesham, the possibilities of where the story could go were endless. By the 42% part I started to unfortunately lose focus on the story. I think because the cottage scenes did not intrigue me at all.
I did like the core 3 and reading about their toxic dynamic, the depiction of the toxic friendship between Ruth and Kathy was my favourite part, and I felt that it and Kathy as a character and her position in that friendship were very relatable.
I did enjoy the sit down and discuss all scene Tommy and Kathy had with Ms Emily and Madame, but I feel like rather than feeling like it was so cruel to create a school where the replicas are sheltered and given opportunities and hope only for it to be crushed, I felt like there never seemed to be any hope from the beginning, From the beginning of the story it never felt like there would be any hope for the characters and their fates because the focus was mainly on the dynamic of the core 3 and because the characters themselves didn’t really change (bar Ruth’s ‘be happy together, forgive me’ thing at the end) so it didn’t feel like their outcomes would.

It felt like something was missing as it always does when you try to fully recall a memory.

Feb 2025 update: Looking back, I think this book is a very good book to analyze and important to read since it’s themes on autonomy and the education system are very interesting. In particular, I’d love to have discussions about what the point of the education system was for the characters at Halesham, did it provide hope and was it fair too if it meant they had to face a world of hopelessness after? Or did that education keep giving them hope in a hopeless world? I also think it mirrors the situation of people the educations system and other agents of socialization will clearly fail, and asks us to think what is the point of giving children who are almost certain to never reach their full potential/to fail a bubble of hope in education? I’m thinking about the myth of meritocracy as an example. Or is it something to keep them occupied, because if the truth was told, then the characters in the book and people would have more time to reckon with their social position, time to challenge and change it.

Despite all that yap, I still think my reading experience of the book was not amazing but the discussions and analysis you can create from the book are.

Beautiful lyrical writing with a main character whose in depth thoughts and reflections I found poignant and enjoyable to read. I only did not care for the romance since it read more like a situationship to me. In fact, once the characters separate for a while after the mc witnesses Daniel's death and does not want to be vulnerable and open up about what happened, the story actually felt better. So I kind of wish there wasn't any romance or that it was less situationshipy and more about the two characters having in depth conversations and reflections around/with the other. I also loved the mc's soft and caring relationship with their brother. The audio book narration felt like floating on water.

So um wth was that.
The only interesting conclusion that can be surmised is that he shot his own daughter and she was the ghost the husband was allegedly meeting.
Even so, I didn't find the dialogue or the characters intriguing, they all just blurred together.
The narrator for this was really good though.

I can always trust Miss Agatha to deliver whether it’s a short story or a full novel, I might not like the motive or find the culprit convincing but it won’t be boring. This was quick simple and leads to the think the motive is one thing when it is really another. Thought I do the suspect is still getting locked up since Evans did mention things to Haydock unless the latter prefers to stick to his ideology of ‘leave things well alone’ even in extreme cases like this.

3.5
And that is why you don’t marry a man in a week and let him whisk you off to the back end of nowhere where you’re stuck at home and 2 miles away from anyone else.

The ending for this was so good, because even though she mentioned she was thinking of stories to make up and her being a killer seems like she made it up (which was such a good way to stall him and her trick with the telephone was so good too) at the end when Gerald dies, it calls into question whether he did so out of fright or if there was truly something in the coffee…

3.75- a low 4 star
I found the pacing of the book to be a bit messy. The part before they re-entered the games had faster facing and felt more intense than the beginning parts of the actual games, and things picked up speed a bit once the group met up with Joanna and crew but then it slowed towards the end again.
So controversial but I do really prefer the movie to the book this time round, the pacing there was much better. I also think certain descriptions like the cornucopia spinning were!’t really done in a way where you could feel the intensity and of the sitaution, it read like the author was describing petunia in a garden. The movie also helped visualise that scene better imo.
But there were a few scenes that the movie didn’t have that I enjoyed reading, I especially loved being in Katniss’ head for the first 50% of the book. Especially when Gale gets whipped and we see Katniss struggle with trying to figure out what it is she wants to do, flee because she wants to or because Gale does, fight because she wants to or because it’s expected of her. That cognitive dissonance was so fun to read.

I do wish that we got to see more Katniss and Primrose scenes since she is meant to love her more than anything yet we barely see them spend time together like really close sister should.
I also loved the cast of characters this time round, Joanna they could never make me hate you and ofc Finnick. And of course Peeta was so sweet bless him but also the ultimate shit stirrer because I still gasped when he said ‘if it wasn’t for the baby’ and I already knew it was coming