Christine Ivins

I'm watching season 7 of 9-1-1 and I have to say I've enjoyed this show immensely. That said, I give 4 stars because there is an aspect I can't stand, and that's the overly emotional, touchy feely one, which crops up quite often. Too often; in my view. While I realise that aspect is essential for balance, I feel it's been taken a bit too far to the point where - again in my view - it becomes cheesy and sickening, if not (I suspect) leaning towards woke. Must we insist on tackling the human side of this type of show to such an unauthentic extent? After all, 9-1-1 is supposed to be about First Responders, accident and fire emergencies with a bit of crime thrown in, not Days Of Our Lives...isn't it?

Very underwhelmed by this book. So much so, that I won't buy the remaining 7. I saw the TV series, including New Blood, before reading the books, and maybe that was an error, but I was unaware that there were books to begin with. That being said, for want of sounding unreasonably scathing, this first Dexter book could've been written by a 5 year old. All Lindsay seems to do is "tell", not show and even that is poorly done. Certain acts in the book were alluded to, but no real follow through; these scenes - well, the whole book really - read like the shell of the oyster with no pearl inside. I also found the characters to be almost one dimensional, thus unbelievable, which left me struggling to finish what is a very short book that has, in my opinion (however humble), been badly written. Call me an unfair reviewer or insulting or even ask me could I do better, and I'll say I don't care and I think I could. This book was a waste of my time.

I saw the movie and loved it. Read the book and adored it. Then saw the movie again. I'm happy to say that the film adaptation of this excellent book did it justice, so I recommend both. I couldn't put this book down, it was so well written and engaging. There were so many twists and turns in the plot, and the characters so real I got to severely dislike Amy. Ms Flynn painted her so well that I almost thought I knew her, and I can tell you, I would've shot her, she was such a piece of work! Highly recommended reading.

I didn't think Gillian Flynn could trump Gone Girl, but I think she did with this one. It's a story that winds itself around the reader and by the first 100 pages, has them hooked. I was surprised at the ending, which I totally love! I read this book in four days, and I only read in bed of a night, so I literally ate it. Definitely recommended reading, although some parts are very graphic, so not for the faint hearted.

I started watching this, thinking it'd be boring and B grade, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the acting was believable and the plot was, in a word, riveting. Quite a few twists and turns leaving me feeling sorry for Beth who, once Kate's sad demise came to light, set about wading through unenthused police, being prime suspect, not knowing who to trust...in a huge effort to uncover who killed Kate. I thought this was really well done and was on the edge of my seat as the plot zig zagged every which way and that. Definitely worth watching!

While I loved Jane Harper's other three books, this one just didn't grab me like they did. To be honest, I thought this one felt like it was written by someone with another person looking over their shoulder; like they were somehow distracted, or not quite feeling the guts of what was being written. The characters felt forced, the plot was predictable, and I also found the dialogue didn't have that natural flow I'd got to love from her other books. That said, she did paint a beautiful picture of the location in which The Survivors was based, capturing the atmosphere of a small, tight knit seaside community rocked by its share of tragedy. Overall, this book had some great moments, but those moments weren't enough to push it past an average rating for me.

I read the book last year and devoured it in four days. Can't say the same about the movie for enthusiasm. While I usually prefer a movie to stick to the book, in this case I wish it hadn't. To me, the movie was way too hard to follow without reading the book first. In my view, what would've got immediate impact would've been the opening scenes actually showing the murders of Luke and his wife and son, rather than bloodied bodies lying in hallways, etc. My partner could not follow this movie, and even I had trouble, though I'd read the book. It flashed backwards and willy nilly, leaving little clue to the casual viewer as to what was going on. Eric Bana was excellent, but I'm afraid the structure and stuttered flow of this movie adaptation let him down, and the movie as a whole.