Donna Weber ( Recuperating from Surgery)'s Reviews > Cul-de-sac

I have been a fan of Joy Fielding’s writing for many years, so I was looking forward to reading Cul-De-Sac.
From the onset of the book, you know someone in the cul de sac is killed, you just don't know who or why.

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?”

Told through multiple narrators, I thought Fielding handled their individual stories well, though I did get a few of them confused at different points. Depending on what you like,this was more of a slow burn domestic drama/whodunit, rather than a thriller.

There was a big focus on guns, which to be fair, just made you suspect pretty much every character of committing the crime, since they all had access to guns. But I don't particularly want to read about guns, in general. I did guess the perpetrator and victim early on,though it didn't detract from the story.
Although some characters were well fleshed out, many were stereotypical, almost exaggerated tropes, from the annoying mother in law to the controlling, !#%?@! men.

My biggest issue, and I've said it before, I just DO NOT want to read about domestic abuse or any abuse for that matter, especially when it's described in detail, over and over again. It seems very commonplace in many psychological thrillers or suspense books in general, and I truly wish it was labeled with trigger warnings of some kind.

Although relevant social issues were explored,it felt like too many at once, ranging from domestic abuse, mental health issues and post traumatic stress disorder, to name a few.

I know many of my Goodreads buddies loved this, and also saw many reviews that mimicked my own. That is not to say I didn't enjoy the book, there were parts and characters I liked, especially Maggie.

Although this wasn't a home run for me, Joy Fielding is a talented author, and will definitely read more books by her.



Trigger Warning: Explicit Domestic Abuse