Little Cruelties

Liz Nugent's latest psychological thriller gives us the Drumm family, the selfish and narcissistic show biz mother, Melissa Craig and her three sons. Mommie dearest overtly favours her eldest, William, a film producer, an entitled, nasty misogynist piece of work, is indifferent to the mean and grasping Brian, and is unbelievably cruel to her youngest, the fragile pop star Luke, ensuring that his mental health issues dog him throughout his life. The book opens with the funeral of one of the brothers, we are not told whose, and in a non-linear narrative, the brothers perspective on the events in their lives is laid bare, it culminates in a shocking finale that reveals which one dies. William and Brian are unencumbered by anything in the way of scruples or morality, behaving so badly that I wanted to biff them hard over their heads with the heaviest of frying pans, the vulnerable Luke elicited a little more of my sympathy. A deranged family drama with some dark humour, of murder, cruelties, betrayal, addictions, adultery, mental health issues, fame, rivalries, and #MeToo issues. Once again Nugent has me compulsively enthralled by the most despicable of brothers in this car crash of a family! Many thanks to Penguin UK for an ARC.

The bloody Drumm brothers horrified and disturbed the hell of me more than Grimm brothers:<br />This is truly delicious, mind blowing, detailed, conflict, brain cell punching, twisty, nerve bending, fantastic masterpiece! <br /><br />Three flawed, dirty, irritating brothers with dark secrets, both of them are ready to stab the other behind, reveal the dirty skeletons they hid in the closets for centuries. <br /><br />Now three of them at the funeral and one of them is already in the coffin. Who is in the coffin? Who is responsible of the murder? <br /><br />Do you want to hear the events from their perspectives throughout the years: You gotta get ready to have a time travel from 70’s to present time. But keep your attention and focus clear and intact because you’re going back and forth between different time zones and read the same events from three different perspectives and you may need to stay objective about the characters’ behaviors and natures.<br /><br />This family seems like consisted of talented celebrities: Mother Melissa is show band singer. (she’s combination of the meanest and narcissistic characters Jessica Lange played at AHS) The elder boy Will is filmmaker, little brother Luke is rock star and Brian is talent manager(he represents his own brother). They’ve been meeting traditional Sunday brunches and sarcastically criticize each other’s lives including their professions, private lives embellished with condescending comments. Especially beef between Brian and Will turn into pissing contest at each time they open their mouths.<br /><br /> I know especially two of them are true dirty rotten scumbags: yes Will and Brian: I’m talking about you. It’s so hard to restrain yourself not to visualize kicking their asses and spitting on their faces. They were disgraceful brothers and the little brother (their ages were so close to each other but they were still ruthless SOBs- yes, Melissa you earned that insult at the most chapters, especially because of your shitty treatment to your little boy-) Luke who is literally fighting with depression, mental illness and burden of her mother’s verbal and mental abuse. He is the only emotional one of the trio. He is broken, sensitive, he seems like he may crumble into the pieces, suffering from eternal pain.<br /> <br />I don’t want to give more spoilers but I have to admit at too many parts of the book this family became more horrifying than the Succession’s The Roys, Haunting of Hill House’s The Crains family, Empire’s the Lyons. Oh boy, what am I talking about? They’re worse than Shameless’ Gallaghers, GOT’s Lannisters and the Sopranos! Especially Will and Brian did so many merciless, despicable, unbelievably jaw dropping things to his brothers. Will is true evil and Brian is sneaky, calculating Mr. Scrouge and distorted Robin Hood( stealing from rich giving to himself!) and poor Luke was just trying to fight with the demons, using different methods: religion, music, alcohol, drugs, more dysfunctional romantic involvements. WHO NEEDS ENEMIES WHEN YOU ALREADY HAVE A FAMILY LIKE THAT!<br /><br />Till the last pages, the tension grows on you, tightens your throat and more dirty, disgusting secrets come out. Three brothers finally come clean at the end but when there is too much mess to be cleaned. <br />The ending was well-played and jaw dropping! So I’m shutting my mouth. This book already took its place at the top ten thrillers of 2020 I truly adored. It was published as “Our Little Cruelties” and it is republishing as “Little Cruelties”. <br /><br />Overall: Impeccable character development, gripping, exciting, unputdownable story-telling, shocking, twisty revelations and ticking bomb, high tension story-building with perfect ending. Five gazillion stars well deserved and all the previous works of the author are already added to TBR monster.<br /><br /> Special thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books, Gallery/Scout Press for sharing this incredible ARC with me in exchange of my honest review.

*4.5 stars *<br /><br /><br /><br />This is by anyone's standards a brilliantly written novel. Highly original, with exceptionally well-drawn characters. <br /><br />It is the story of a Dublin family, in which there are three brothers, William, Brian and Luke. The boys are the children of a famous show band singer, with access to all glitterati show biz personalities. Their mother is known professionally as Melissa, although by her birth family as Moll.<br /><br />In the eighties, Bob Dylan held a huge concert in Dublin. Melissa has an entree into all the VIP areas and tells William and Brian she will take them to the concert. Luke, who is 13, will have to go into the creche. William thinks this is totally unfair, but Luke is used to being unfairly treated by his mother and is much closer to his father, who has an ordinary office job and does all the family chores. Luke has many friends in the creche including some young girls who love to hear him sing. He is extremely good at networking himself.<br /><br />As the years pass, their father dies young of prostate cancer, apparently not greatly mourned by Melissa. William is happily married to Susan and has a much-loved daughter, Daisy, and Luke (to everyone's astonishment), has become a world-famous pop star with more money than the rest of them put together. Brian makes his money by acting as an agent for his famous brothers, in the process swindling them out of a great deal of money. He also tries to take over Daisy's life, making her into a pop star, which ends in her suffering from bulimia. Susan and William part company. Luke becomes mentally ill and has to have prolonged sessions of therapy, eventually losing most of his money. <br /><br />The narrative jumps about in time a great deal, which can be confusing, but the brilliance of this novel lies in the way it is told by each brother in turn, leading to the eventual denouement. Very enjoyable.

<b>Dysfunctional</b><br />A psychological drama that paints the most magnificently crafted characters with family interactions that are fascinating, absorbing and downright shocking. The Drumm family, led by their mother Melissa, with her three sons, Will, Brian and Luke, seem to be adept at handing out little cruelties (or not so little) to everyone around them, especially each other. A seriously dysfunctional family that has lived the dream in the media industry and paid a heavy price for it.<br /><br />The story starts at the funeral of one of the brothers, not to be revealed until the end, although the suggestion is that one of the other brothers is responsible for the death. <blockquote> <i> “Three is an odd number so there had always been two against one, although we all switched sides regularly. Nobody would ever have described us as close.” </i> </blockquote> There are four distinct parts to the book, the first three parts see each of the brothers tell their story from childhood hopping about through time. The fourth part is backwards and forwards interplay with each brother as the pace mounts to the incident we’ve been waiting for. This is masterfully written by Liz Nugent and her skill abounds as she deftly controls the narrative, the plot and the multiple perspectives on decisive moments.<br /><br /><i>Our Little Cruelties</i> is a monument to character development, full of light and shade, complex personalities, and psychological turmoil, which is just mind-blowing in its scope. Melissa is a narcissist who is cruel in her selective treatment of her children, with Will being her favourite and no attempt is made to hide it, especially from Luke whom she almost hates. Will is a film producer, self-centred, a womaniser, and a family man to wife Susan and his daughter Daisy. Brian is mean, ruthless, always looking to screw someone out of money, and defrauds his younger brother Luke out of his house, all while representing him during his popstar days. Luke has a natural media chemistry, a look, and a voice that rockets him to the top of the charts although he is a drug addict, alcoholic and suffers from deep mental health issues. Luke is the self-destructive guy that your heart bleeds for because deep down he is loving, kind, forgiving, vulnerable and lonely, he struggles throughout his life in the knowledge that his mother made it abundantly clear she didn’t care for him.<br /><br />The fabulous way the book is written enables major incidents in the brothers’ lives to have a unique perspective from each brother, and the unreliable accounts stemming from each twisted personality provides multiple lenses that entice us to look deeper to discover the truth. The turbulence of their lives is fascinating but if I have one criticism is that the achievements and circumstances the brothers find themselves in, covers everything life could throw at mankind and the sheer volume of it lessens the believability. I’m not sure this will be an issue for everyone but it just didn’t feel flawless for me and quite overplayed. <br /><br />This is a book a read with my wonderful reading buddy Beata which always adds extra pleasure. I rate the book 3.5 stars and would recommend reading it. Many thanks to Penguin Books and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC copy of the book in return for an honest review.

There have been some really GREAT thrillers this year. <br /><br />Unfortunately, though, this one does NOT make that list for me. <br /><br />This is a dysfunctional family drama-not the THRILLER, that I was expecting! <br /><br />The book opens with a funeral.<br />Three brothers in attendance but one is in the coffin. <br /><br />You are reading to find out WHO it is, HOW he died, and WHY.<br /><br />Each brother will tell you in his own voice, his perception of his childhood years, his early adult life, and his life in the present day-this is a dysfunctional family drama. <br /><br />A character study of one DESPICABLE brother after another-all of the ways they were mistreated , and all of the ways they mistreated others. <br /><br />BLAH BLAH BLAH <br /><br />I was bored. <br /><br />I don’t have to like the characters to enjoy a story....<br />BUT, I do have to like the story to become invested in the outcome. <br /><br />I couldn’t care less about finding out WHO was in the coffin! <br /><br /><br />This book is available now in the UK, under the title “Our Little Cruelties”<br />and is now available in the U.S. under this title.<br /><br />Thank you to the Publisher for my gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

everything you need to know about this book is in the title and the synopsis. <br /><br />the story begins with a funeral, but we dont know whose and we dont know why. the vast majority of the book is a reflection on the lives of each of the brothers, how they waned in and out of their relationships with each other, and the little cruelties they have both endured and inflicted throughout their lives. <br /><br />and because the funeral doesnt come back into play until the last 20 pages or so, i wouldnt call this a mystery or a thriller. i never felt any suspense or anticipation for some big reveal. this is definitely a psychological character study, one that is intricately woven across three different lives. and i think this is some of LN strongest writing thus far. <br /><br />this is definitely a book for those who dont mind a slower and less exciting take on the genre and enjoy more character focused narratives.<br /><br /><i>thank you to gallery books for the ARC!</i><br /><br /><b>↠ <i>4 stars</i></b>

A Funeral, three Brothers - two alive, one dead. What a mess.<br /><br />This book is told through the POV of the three brothers: William, Brian and Luke. William is a successful film producer; Luke is a worldwide pop star and Brian is a teacher who also manages Luke's career and finances. They could be typical normal guys, but they are not! They are all a mess in varying degrees. Each doing "little cruelties" to each other. Betrayal after betrayal. They give new meaning to the term "dysfunctional family"<br /><br />The only real mystery in the book is the identity of the dead brother. You will not know his identity until the end. The book takes you from the funeral and moves back in time to their childhood and throughout their lives, with each sharing their POV. We learn secrets, watch them lie, watch them manipulate, watch them love, watch them fall apart, watch them get back on their feet, only to fall apart again. <br /><br />This book touches on several things: family, addiction, mental illness, greed, infidelity, the pros and cons of fame, money, sibling rivalry, and even the #METoo movement. <br /><br />Will you like these characters? Probably not, although there was one, I felt sorry more than his brothers. But their relationships were fascinating. Plus, their mother was a whole other can of beans as was each's relationship with her. <br /><br />The storytelling was a little bit of a mess in that it was all over the place, but that felt right as these brothers were all over the place as well. I thought Nugent did a good job keeping the reader in the dark with the "mystery" narrator who tells the story in the beginning. We do not know who is telling the story, so you have to hang in with them on the chaotic ride/journey of their lives until the end of the book. <br /><br />This is not your typical mystery/suspense/thriller book. It is not fast paced. It is more character driven. As I stated earlier, the real mystery is who is dead, why, how and who is to blame? Otherwise it is a decent into the character's lives, those in their lives, and what motivates them.<br /><br />Thank you to Gallery/Scout Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.<br />

Well... ?? Guys it is hurting my heart to give this 3 stars, it really is. I always try to be honest, even if I don't want to be! Look I LOVE Liz Nugent's books! I am obsessed with them. Unraveling Oliver was my favorite book of the year, two years ago. This writer is brilliant! I just didn't mesh well with this book and I think I know why. I just had a different expectation built up from my experience with her last three books. Her writing style is dark, twisted and some super snarky humor. I LOVE that super snarky dark side. This book was missing that. So she took a different approach- get over it. I just had trouble doing so because, I just expected something different. I look forward to that snark like a kid on Xmas morning!<br /><br />The books starts out with a bang- normal Liz Nugent fashion. We are at a funeral with a family of brothers- William, Luke and Brian...but one of them isn't standing upright..Yep you got it, one of them is in the casket. How did he get there and which one is it? Well that is what this story is all about. This story is alot of family drama...drugs, mental illness, cheating, lying...all the good stuff! The characters are not likable- at all, which is fine by me, that always intrigues me. <br /><br />Overall it was an okay read, but I thought the story lacked alot of suspense. It wasn't the normal page turner her books normally are for me. I would classify this as a family drama vs the normal psychological mind bending thriller I have seen from her in the past. It did pick up the last part of the book but not enough to bump it up any further in the ratings. I was expecting a smashing ending but it fell a bit flat. This was a buddy read and our group was split down the middle with this one! <br /><br />I adore her writing and I am really looking forward to what she comes out with next! Thank you so much to Gallery/Scout Press for this ARC.

<b> <i>” Three brothers are at the funeral. One lies in the coffin” “</i> </b> <br /><br />The opening line of the novel is enough to grab your attention and it manages to hold your attention till the end. First thing first, though classified as a mystery thriller, <b>Our Little Cruelties</b> is more of a family drama. The main mystery is the identity of the dead brother but it’s not critical to the main story. This is a dark, disturbing story of a dysfunctional family of three brothers Will, Brian, and Luke, and their twisted relationship with their mother and with each other, starting from their childhood through to the rest of their lives.<br /><br />Will, Brian, and Luke grow up in a dysfunctional family. Of all the dysfunctional families I have read over the years, this has to be the worst of the lot. Will, the eldest and most successful brother, Brian, the middle child who is a perennial loser and Luke, the youngest, who has probably the most exciting life journey of all, is more of rivals and competitors than brothers. As they grow up and go ahead in their different careers, the 3 brothers often find themselves, crossing each other’s paths, always with disastrous results. <br /><br />The story is narrated by the three Drumm brothers, told from their individual perspectives. Covering one brother’s story at a time, their stories move forward and back again in a random manner. The author skillfully manages to keep the narrative running smoothly as keeping track of individual events may prove tough. The story tracks their bitter relationship full of betrayals, adultery, rivalries, and full-blown rivalry towards each other. Though disturbing at times, I found the Drumm’s family history immensely readable. <br /><br />Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent is a dark story full of cruel individuals, doing despicable things to each other. So, it’s not a surprise that none of the characters are likable but Liz Nugent has kept the readers engaged despite the characters. The narrative is engaging and you keep reading on. There are shades of dark humor, probably to lighten the mood. The alternating point of view make the story more unpredictable. <br /><br />The stories of brothers often overlap and feel repetitive; especially when each brother’s story starts right from the beginning. As none of the characters are likable, you tend to not care about them over time, and that includes the final reveal. The final third act feels unnecessarily stretched with a lukewarm ending. <br /><br />Overall, Our Little Cruelties is more of a family drama than a psychological thriller. If you enjoy dark &amp; twisted family dramas, you will enjoy this one. <br /><br /><b> Many thanks to the publishers' Penguin Ireland and Netgalley for the ARC. </b><br /> <br />

Think your family might be somewhat dysfunctional? Think again. The Drumm family puts the dys into functional. The book starts at a funeral which is a cliffhanger as until the end we don’t know whose it is except that it’s one of the Drumm brothers. They’re a talented bunch which they probably inherit from their mother who had success as a show band singer. The eldest Brian is an agent, Will is a filmmaker and Luke has had a successful music career. They are a colourful and intriguing family as becomes clear as each brother gives their perspective on their lives and stories. This is told non-chronologically which from a writer less skilled than Liz Nugent this could have been an unholy mess but it works brilliantly and I think it makes their stories much more interesting. <br /><br />The characters are so well created and crafted and though they are not all likeable by any means, you get a real insight into what makes them tick and the root of many of their issues lies with their mother Melissa. For Brian it’s money, he makes Scrooge and Silas Marner look like big spenders. He’s not likeable as he can be jealous, belligerent and smug. Will is a womaniser which gets him into untold trouble. Luke is the most likeable, he’s very damaged, vulnerable and has serious mental health issues. The boys are truly awful to each other but especially to Luke and some of their ‘little cruelties’ aren’t so little. I really like the fact that the three boys narrate the story because you can check the veracity of their accounts and see if they are reliable and trustworthy. <br /><br />This is a very well written, suspense family drama. The pacing is good and there are plenty of revelations and twists throughout. However, it’s the ending that firmly places this in the 5 star category because it’s mind blowing, it makes you gasp and your jaw drop it’s so shocking. <br /><br />Overall, this is another outstanding novel from Liz Nugent who is an extremely talented writer, creating stories that are hard to put down. Highly recommended. <br /><br />Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK for the ARC.