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lalala05's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction and Suicide
Minor: Physical abuse
hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book’s writing style won’t be for everyone— it certainly wasn’t for me. It’s choppy and pulls you out of the story too often. The commentary felt pretentious, I wish the author had just written a book on the history of the mystery genre. I see the love put into it but it just really didn’t work for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Infidelity
Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism
tristan_lince's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It sounded great, a metafictional murder mystery that is also commentary on the genre itself and our love of it, but the author was trying so hard to be "clever". The constant asides and pauses to comment on tropes in mystery fiction was fun at first but as it went on McDorman did less analyzing of the cliches and more just pointed them out as if to say "See? Aren't I smart for noticing that particular common story beat? Anyways, onto the next one". By the end the thing basically turns into an essay and entirely abandons the "story" element of this "meta story". So all in all it was fun at first but got pretty drab to read by the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Murder
undersea's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
The idea of this book is better than the execution. To quote one reviewer “This book spent too much time trying to be different and edgy that it forgot to be entertaining.”
And to quote another “It was giving Ken serenading Push by Matchbox Twenty to Barbie. Y’all know what I mean. Let me just mansplain murder to you babe, you’re going to love it.”
And to quote another “It was giving Ken serenading Push by Matchbox Twenty to Barbie. Y’all know what I mean. Let me just mansplain murder to you babe, you’re going to love it.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Murder
Moderate: Antisemitism
sophialib's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I really liked the idea of this book and the writing style was fun and interesting. However, the actual story was frustrating, felt like it did not have a complete ending, and was so slow at parts. The focus was definitely more on the mentality behind mystery novels than the actual mystery itself; it bounced around a lot and omitted so much information. Overall not my favorite, but good enough for me to finish.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Antisemitism
Minor: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse
jamiedarlin's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, Antisemitism, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
jmayo's review against another edition
Couldn’t get into it, the story or the characters wasn’t as compelling as I’d expected
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide
j_squaredd's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is very meta, so it’s not for everyone. But if you’re a big fan of the mystery genre and would enjoy a book that both participates in and (on page) examines the tropes that make it up through asides, mixed media, and references to and deconstructions of other mysteries, you may like West Heart Kill.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, and War
amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and War
ajawritesthings's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
West Heart Kill in one word: unexpected. And for a mystery novel, that’s exactly what you want. You want a narrative that subverts tropes and bends the rules (sometimes even breaking them!).
Everyone is a suspect and things get messy very quickly. The novel follows the elite members of the West Heart hunting club and as their secrets get revealed you realize no one is safe.
Anyone who reads this book will be sure to feel like an active participant in revealing the truth, which makes the book so much more enjoyable than other books that I’ve read before.
I’m not as familiar with the mystery genre, but I did appreciate the history sprinkled throughout the book. At times, it did feel overwhelming and unrelated to the plot but as a novice to the mystery genre, I really do think that it added a unique detail to the narrative.
SPOILERS
The ending was a bit of a let down, I can't lie. There are lots of things I saw coming, but the one thing I didn't see coming (and that I was a bit peeved by) was the cause of death of the detective. The author inserts himself as the ultimate villain, which could have had a powerful effect on the book, but felt cheap like some of the other reflective moments of the book. I think that the ending and some of the history bits kept me from enjoying the novel and giving it at least 4 stars. But I did appreciate that it feels like a fresh approach to writing a mystery novel. If only it had been executed more expertly, I would have loved it.
SPOILERS
I read this book in one sitting and literally couldn't put it down until I solved the murders. West Heart Kill has a star quality and fans of sleuthing will devour this novel. 3.75 stars.
Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the ARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent
Minor: Antisemitism and War