zak_martell's Reviews (277)

If you’ve seen any of Rory Sutherland’s many talks and speeches on YouTube, you’ve heard many of the stories in this book.
Having said that, the stories are a fascinating entry point into a unique way of looking at the world and its problems.
Definitely worth a read, and the audiobook is great too.

Each of the six trials is started with a fictionalised version of events from the perspective of someone involved. This grounds the description of the trial to come and humanises the defendant and others involved.

The cases were each fascinating for one reason or another. The twists and turns had me dropping my jaw as I read.

My only complaint is a major one and it’s that there were only six trials! I could have read a hundred and one and not been sated.
Definitely recommend.

Many of the stories felt really meaningful, like they had something to say. Others, I didn’t feel so connected to.
I loved getting to know Newford and looking out for the connections between each of the stories and characters.

An interesting snapshot into an ever changing world, and yet still relevant these few years later.
It’s worth a read, especially if you’re not clued in to this sort of thing.

It dragged a bit in places and others felt like they sped by.
Despite the fascinating subject, this series made it feel like ten years wasn’t enough for a 12 part series of this kind.

Each chapter follows a different serial killer. It starts by laying out their childhood, then runs through crimes one by one clearly stating the graphic details of the killings in as least sensationalistic way possible. Then, it takes you through the timeline of arrest, sentencing and execution (if relevant). Finally, there is a short discussion of what nature and nurture might have pushed these people into acting as they did.

This formula was great and allowed the stories to be told concisely without giving up on detail.

Three short stories following Moriarty as a consultant to fellow criminals. What a fantastic premise with near unlimited possibilities.

Although it had some interesting ideas, I found the stories fairly one note and straightforward with few unforeseen twists or any of the surprises a story of this type sets you up to expect.
Moriarty has really no personality of his own (nor do any of the character for that matter) and instead he and his narrator-companion have the fairly boring rehashing of the Holmes/Watson dynamic we see all over the case of the week crime TV.

The concept is excellent and I found reading this book was really motivating. I put some of the suggestions into practice straight away and suspect that some version of them will continue to become a part of my daily routine.

This was a fascinating book. There were a few tips and opinions on the craft of writing, but mostly it was a subjective story of one man’s experience with it at different stages of his life.

I haven’t read much Stephen King. I’ve tried, but rarely seem to connect with his stories (though when I do, I really do). Despite only having read a few of his novel length works, I really really enjoyed getting a view into how and why he tells stories.

Sometimes the stories of stories are the most interesting part to me, and this definitely one of those times.

This volume felt a bit slow at the start, but towards the end, it really picked up with some interesting developments moving forward.