Nilufer Ozmekik's Reviews > Our Little Cruelties

The bloody Drumm brothers horrified and disturbed the hell of me more than Grimm brothers:
This is truly delicious, mind blowing, detailed, conflict, brain cell punching, twisty, nerve bending, fantastic masterpiece!

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.
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”.

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.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books, Gallery/Scout Press for sharing this incredible ARC with me in exchange of my honest review.