Book Reviews
Hello! Welcome to my book review page. This is a little different than my film and television reviews, as they are much shorter and (ideally) updated as I finish each book. If you would like to see my bookshelf contents, please take a look at my Library page. I’m also always down to talk books, so please send me a message in my guestbook about a recent favorite or a recommendation or anything else really.
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto
Finished: August 11, 2025
Rating: ★⯪☆☆☆
Thoughts: I feel like the rating says pretty much all I need to say about this book, but I’ll ramble on about it anyway. I am kind of shocked at all the praise I’ve seen for this book—pretty much no aspect of it worked for me. I’m on the hunt for witty murder mystery books, and this is like top of all the lists, but it is just not at all funny; that was actually pretty surprising to me because a recommendation from a comedian I like on a podcast is what bumped this to the top of my list. There are a number of other issues—bland mystery, unsympathetic character/relationship development, simplistic style and thus simplistic emotional/internal lives. The mystery was so easy to solve, because the cast was so small and no one ever felt particularly suspicious; mainly this was because we were in their heads with too many perspective changes as they were going, “I wonder who killed him.” The characters were very similar, all with very low self esteem and negative self talk; we got their backstories on the first page we met them for some characters, which just seemed to lack all ideas of good pacing and finesse. The book was pretty dedicated to two boring romances—one moreso than the other, which at least had drama. Like four lines of dialogue are shared between characters before one goes, “I think we’re really connecting.” Would’ve loved to see it. The style comment pretty much speaks for itself, but I will say characters said what they were thinking and feeling explicitly and simply in both the narration and dialogue, which made the writing feel juvenile. With all that said, it was a quick read, enough to keep my attention over a few days and hopefully get me out of this mini-reading slump.
The Man Who Died Twice
Author: Richard Osman
Finished: August 3, 2025
Rating: ★★⯪☆☆
Thoughts: This book took me all of July and a third of June to get through. It took me so long, consistently reading, that my Libby loan (21 days) ended before I could finish it (for reference, most of the books prior to this took me less than two days to read). I want to blame this on my dissertation, but honestly I think the cozy mystery genre may just not be for me, though I like the humor in them. I felt like this book dragged on and just had so much… the words I’m choosing are fluff and angst, and the implications are not accidental. I definitely felt it dragged on at some moments, and I understand that to be the genre, so I’ll have to think about whether I want to continue the series or not.
Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret
Author: Benjamin Stevenson
Finished: June 2025
Rating: ★★★⯪☆
Thoughts: I wasn’t as big of a fan of this book as the other two, but that’s pretty easily explained away by taste. Ern’s family is relevant to this book, which I really like, but it was deemphasized as the book is much shorter than its companions and spends more time on the mystery. If I’m honest, I didn’t love this mystery as much but possibly just because I’m a newbie to the genre and didn’t get the satisfaction of guessing the killer. Or, well, in a way I suppose I technically did.
The Thursday Murder Club
Author: Richard Osman
Finished: June 14, 2025
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Thoughts: While I had a couple gripes with this book (the chapter length and switches in perspective), I did end up really liking it. The characters were compelling and I have to say I was so happy about the ending of the mystery. For all I like the genre, I am sometimes disappointed when that part comes around and I appreciated how this novel wrapped it up.
The Only Good Indians
Author: Stephen Graham Jones
Finished: May 20, 2025
Rating: ★★★★★
Thoughts: This might be my favorite book of the year, or at least it’s up there. I was looking for another book by this author, but could only find this one on Libby so I gave it a shot. I loved this book. I loved the prose style, the plot, the format—just everything about it. I don’t want to say too much because if you like horror or literary horror, you should absolutely give it a shot.
A Head Full of Ghosts
Author: Paul Tremblay
Finished: May 18, 2025
Rating: ★★★★☆
Thoughts: This has been on my list forever, but I just have not been able to find it in stores! There’s always a shelf of Tremblay’s books at my local bookstore but this one is only there about half the time (and looking unfortunately dissatisfying when it is present). It would’ve seriously deterred me had I not heard great things about it from a podcast I listen to. This book is really good and really sad. I think Tremblay did an excellent job portraying childhood and a fear in that very specific way. I very much did cry at this book, although I had sort of mixed feelings about the ending. The jumping around in time, especially with the blog entries, was something I had very mixed feelings on, mainly due to how sparse those scenes felt.
Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect
Author: Benjamin Stevenson
Finished: May 2025
Rating: ★★★★⯪
Thoughts: I loved how this book built on the last one and getting to see Ern and some of the crew again. You really can’t go wrong with a mystery on a train, and this book was just as witty as the first. It was still planned out with the format, but the way the first book used the part titles just can’t be beat. I enjoyed getting to meet the new characters, who I liked but did not stick in my memory quite as intensely as Ern's family. However, I thought the ending was cute.
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone
Author: Benjamin Stevenson
Finished: April 2025
Rating: ★★★★★
Thoughts: This is my first murder mystery book and I have to say I really loved it. The humor, metatextual jokes, format, characters, and story all really drew me in. I mentioned in one of my reviews I might go into a mystery novel phase and writing this a bit later, I definitely did (and I’m still in one!). As I've gone to read through the rest of the series that's been released so far, I find myself wanting to see more of Ern's family; truly, Stevenson made these characters so fun and engaging.