4 stars for this one.
I thought the first story in the “Alibis Collection” was really strong and honestly the best out of the bunch. I thought that McFadden actually stretched herself in this one in a good way. I didn’t see the twists coming and loved how she tied things up her.
“Death Row” follows a woman named Talia Kemper has been on death row for years after being convicted of the murder of her husband. We find Talia remembering things before she was in prison and then waking up each day before she can change the outcome of what is coming. When Talia sees a man that she thinks is her dead husband, she’s determined to get to the truth of what happened.
McFadden doesn’t tell you right away what happened and why, but very early on you get to see that Talia had a jealous streak a mile long and was possessive of her husband. I do like that McFadden often has us following a protagonist you don’t really like much, and honestly I didn’t like Talia that much.
Since this was a short story, some of the other characters were a bit thin, that said, the flow was pretty swift in this one.
The ending gives you multiple surprises so you have to wonder about how did things end for Talia.
A very strong four star read. I usually love Hepworth’s longer works a ton so wasn’t shocked that I liked this one too. Most of the reason why I gave this four stars though is that the story feels a bit unfinished there at the end. You get many reasons why the ex-wives wanted their ex dead, his two kids too, but the explanation behind how this all happened felt a bit way too hand wavey to me at a certain point.
“The Ex-Wives Club” follows the three ex-wives and current girlfriend of Ian Curley a celebrity chef in Melbourne. It’s a ritual that all of Ian’s ex’s have dinner at his restaurant every Friday. But the women are feeling tense and upset and generally fed up with Ian and how he treats their two kids. His latest ex-wife has nothing but contempt for him. When he’s found beaten to death and frozen in his restaurant’s deep freezer, a detective has her work cut off for her with dealing with so many people who all have alibis.
With each wife we get a little more details about Ian and one wonders how no one murdered the guy before now. I really wish that Hepworth had explored that more. I get that he’s characterized as super charismatic, but the little bit of details we get….I had tons of questions. The flow is pretty good, you flip between the detective leading the investigation and the family members and some of the restaurant staff.
I thought it was interesting on how this was set up and done, and thought it was a clever ending.
Well this was a three star read. I think in the end that I needed more details from Lagercrantz. It’s not revealed who murdered the main character’s father, I can guess. But I also had questions for his ex and that whole thing. I just felt like this book was a missing a lot. Also this one dragged. I don’t know what it was but I found myself getting slightly bored after a while.
“False Note” follows William who is a medical student with a terrible relationship with his father, who is a famous opera singer in Stockholm. Most of their relationship involves their father beating and abusing women and William determined to not be like him. After falling for his current girlfriend Ebba, she insists that they go back to meet his father, so he can confront him and how he behaved. Of course things do not go to plan.
I don’t know at times what Lagercrantz wanted the reader to feel. You wanted to shake William for being ridiculously blind and I felt appalled by his father too. The character of Ebba is not developed very well, but I just didn’t like her much once you see where the story is going.
The ending was off to me. You have to wonder was this always the plan and why.
1 star.
Honestly the worst story in the bunch. I don’t know what was going on here, but it read like an unfinished screen play. I legit just worried I had gotten a bad version of this one since it just randomly ends and there’s no resolution to anything. The plot was full of holes and the explanation for the why was a mess. It also dragged.
This one was pretty good after the snooze of the fourth short story. I liked that you didn’t know where this was going and I liked the mini twists we kept getting. Figuring out who was doing what and why was great. I honestly wish it had been a little longer. But will see if Zunker writes anything else that may peek my interest.
“Good Neighbors” follows married couple Kara and Jackson who have recently moved to Austin, Texas. Kara has found it hard to make friends and is very happy when she becomes friends with her neighbor across the street, Mindy. Mindy confesses to Kara she thinks her husband is having an affair. When Kara who is relaxing with her husband thinks she sees someone sneaking into Mindy’s home, she decides to go and see if it’s a woman. From there it’s a wild ride from beginning to end.
I thought this was great and honestly had no idea what the heck was happening from beginning to end. The flow works throughout, but have to say that I was baffled at the terrible police (oh wait, I was not on second thought) and their lack of critical thinking skills. Most police would shut down a crime scene and not just have people running all over the place.
Really enjoyed the ending, though it felt too pat.
Trigger warning: Body shaming
Well this one was so very satisfying. What happens when a trad wife gets the little space her husband allows taken away from her?
I thought this whole story was so sad, we follow Hannah, who has long been married to her husband for about 10 years. Hannah was at first happy with her husband, she wanted to be a traditional wife who stayed home and had kids, but when she’s unable to bring a pregnancy to term, she finds herself focusing more and more on her secret jewelry business. When her husband decides he’s had enough of her daring to think about anything outside of his dirty clothes and food, he takes away the one thing that make her happy.
I thought this was a great story though I thought this was going entirely in a different way honestly. I felt for Hannah and just wanted her to escape her terrible marriage and hang out with her sister who knew what a POS her husband was.
The flow was really good in this one, and the main reason why I just gave this four stars, it felt like we skipped a little too much there to get to the ending. The ending was very satisfying though.