Loved this so much and couldn‘t stop reading it or thinking about it afterwards. It‘s not a whodunnit more an exploration of the impact and the thinking from the family when someone commits a terrible crime. Really interesting and well written.

Love this so much, so interesting, so well written and compassionate and I want to know so much more about it all. The stories are so relatable and the explanations of functional illness so helpful.

I finished this in a day. I couldn‘t stop reading even though the subject matter is horrific. Toward the end I felt there was a lack of empathy which was very understandable but jarred with the overall tone. However any criticism feels like sniping because the book is a very intimate insight into the wider family when a truly evil crime is committed.

I loved this! Clearly written by a young person, and the plot points/character depth could maybe be criticised if you were looking at it from a lit criticism perspective, but as a view of the world from a disadvantaged teenager and a great, fast story it‘s fantastic. I‘m going to get my teenagers to read it next.

So this is a very uncomfortable read - a short book, and a brief encounter with the period following the deaths of the parents of four siblings. It reads like an extended metaphor or a fable - it‘s disturbing at face value. I did enjoy it but McEwan‘s writing is consistently readable and engaging, and I suspect if he wrote recipes I‘d follow them.

I‘m so excited to start this, I‘ve seen other reviews. I love the telling from the sister‘s viewpoint, and I‘m wondering how I will feel towards the mother, whether I will empathise or blame her.

I may be alone in my less than 100% love for this book. I was really into it to start with, it is gentle but compelling. The ending I feel was signposted way too much and I didn‘t like it. It felt a little maudlin. I have a couple of questions over the practicalities so for me it was more a 3/5. But I will read the sequel.

I really was blown away by the beginning of this book. I was already scared of finishing it a few pages in! Unfortunately the second half became really repetitive and woolly for me, lots of text and not much explanation or movement. Not sure how the ending came about but it felt a bit like the author didn‘t know where to take it and did a ‘then I woke up‘ finish.

I think about this book all the time. It‘s like Daddy Long Legs and The Greengage Summer - those books where you wished the characters were within speaking distance.
Its a beautiful, gentle story of friendship across the miles.

I was so disappointed - I started with the brilliant Myron Bolitar books and am not so keen on the spin offs. I found this so unbearably slow to plough through. Didn‘t really care about the characters, time for a break from thrillers I think!

So I thought I was reading one plot/character arc and it changed to another. Being cryptic to avoid spoilers but I really loved how this wasn‘t a typical ending. The characters were multi faceted and although you could read the book quickly and be a bit ‘meh‘ I think it has quite an interesting take on peoples personalities/selfishness/loyalties. Worth a read and the writing is good.

Added this to my physical TBR pile today. Not sure if it‘s ‘me‘ but loved Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, against my will...

Trying to expand my reading range away from ‘is it emotional, bleak or a thriller?‘ So I picked this up.
Loved it to start with, really fresh and funny as dad becomes a completely different adult to the one his son grew up with. Towards the end, I was bored. Not sure why, maybe the pace is just too slow and the words not beautiful enough to allow that.

My first book crush was Elliott. He was just the right mix of caring, unobtainable, and wicked. Funny how characters are somehow alive and living somewhere you can‘t quite reach them

Haunting. Quietly sad and satisfying. It just charts grief and emotion in a really clever and readable way. Nothing happens really - it‘s not a whodunnit. It stays in my shelf but I don‘t know if I could read it again.

There‘s a place for this type of book. They are so popular but not for me. People never do what anyone in real life would; they have quirky cool friends and random encounters that provide the next plot point.
The day I started buying from the shelves and the not the tables in the middle or the supermarket aisles, my reading life became richer.

This is in the pile of books you wish you‘d never read, so you could find it one day and read it afresh. Captures being young and innocent, all through the book there‘s something else, but what? Loved it. Still tell people to read it so I can make them talk to me about it.

This is a mix of present and past (WW2) and is brilliant. It‘s intriguing and sad and brings the two together.