An exquisite tale of a very toxic relationship- between Mike and Verity = and the dangerous game they played. An obsessive twisted delusional interpretation of so called love. I found this to be absolutely brilliant! Chilling and absolutely compelling. I simply could not stop reading this. Without a doubt, this is one of my top 10 ever.! I can't even language how outrageously sublime "Our Kind of Cruelty" is! If you read any thriller, you must read this!

Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the advance digital copy!

I think this is going to be a VERY popular book in 2018!

I have tried writing this review 3 times and I keep deleting it because I'm afraid to give away anything about this book. I'll just say it's a very twisted love story and leave it at that.

This was such a compelling read that the pages practically flipped themselves. If you were a fan of You by Caroline Kepnes then I'm certain you'll enjoy this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Will post Amazon review on publication day.

The endorsement from Gillian Flynn put this book on the top of my to-read list and had me in expectation of a twisty thriller - which isn't particularly the right genre for classification and which bumped the star rating down for me.

The story is gripping and I sped through to the end in excited anticipation, but it ultimately left me underwhelmed since Mike Hayes, while unreliable as a narrator, is predictable in both thoughts and actions. Stories from this type of POV tend to be 'nuanced' in all the same ways and this one is no different.

While there is relevance with the current political climate and the differing treatment of men vs women in the press, it's heavy-handed and inevitable instead of subtle and insidious, wasting the opportunity to build tension and dread. It would have been much more interesting if even one of the courtroom players acted against archetype.

I received a free e-copy of Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall from NetGalley for my honest review. This is a very bizarre psychological thriller. Very gruesome, disturbing and sick. This one was a bit extreme for me. I struggled getting through it. I am sorry I just was not a fan of this one.

This is one of the BEST psychological thrillers that I have ever read and I know I won't forget it any time soon. Authors of the same genre need to be aware- this book is going to top the charts!

Full review to come upon release.

This book had me reading way past my usual bed time and then it haunted my dreams as well. This may be one of the most subtle and disturbing books I have read in a long time. I found myself sneering as I read this story because these characters are so well written, I was genuinely sickened by them. I wondered if Mike could ever be a good person or get the help he so desperately needs. For me, this was a new way to look into mental delusion and it's affects on our daily life. It also made me question just how far some people are willing to go in order to be happy. This book will keep you enthralled from the first page to the last.

I have no words for this book. What a complete and utter "mindf***" for lack of a better word. I don't want to say much as I think it would be best to just read this book and form your own opinions. I went back and forth internally so many times on what I thought was happening here and it was such an interesting book to try to put in perspective.

If you liked Joe Goldberg from You, then Mike Hayes is definitely a character you will want to get to know when this book releases in the spring!

This book had a rather mediocre storyline. Not a lot of suspense. Boring at times especially during the trial. A political statement that I feel backfired. A rather bland ending.

Fast paced, unreliable narrator who keeps you guessing till the very end!

This story puts terms like obsessive and delusional in new (and scary) light. This story is so well written hooking me from start to finish.

Wow. Our Kind of Cruelty messed with my head. I thought I understood who Mike and V were at the beginning, only to see Mike become more and more unhinged. Reading each account of events, and then Mike's interpretation of those events, and then to see how he acted on his interpretations of those events, was truly unsettling. And then to see how the court system treated V despite the fact Mike is obviously completely unhinged and dangerous, simply because she is a woman with a sexual history, was disturbing. All the more disturbing because this actually happens. Very well written and, I expect, a future bestseller.

Wasnt sure what to expect from this one. But it sure did deliver. Whole book takes place inside Mike's head while he takes us on an obsessive journey into his delusional world of what love is. What a ride. The author delivers a very intriguing story line and tells it in such a way that grabs you and doesnt let you look away. At times i was thinking to myself, "why am i continuing to read this crap" but honestly could not look away. Great 5 star book. May not be for everyone, not a mystery, not alot of action, but it sure is great writing.

Gillian Flynn really let me down for once with her blurb on this book. As soon as I saw that she endorsed it, I was SO excited to read because she is one of my favorite thriller authors. I mean, <i>Gone Girl</i> really opened my eyes to this genre. But enough about Flynn, because this is about <i>Our Kind of Cruelty</i>. Let's start with why I liked it. First, Hall did a great job of writing through Mike's eyes and added humanity and depth to a disturbed individual's perspective. The author also created a taut and suspenseful atmosphere and I quickly tore through the pages. I was so interested in finding out if Verity shared ANY of Mike's perception of their relationship, or lack thereof.

What did I not like? I really didn't like the development of Verity's character. Mike was so well-developed and Verity was a cardboard cut-out in contrast. Other than coming from a wealthy normal family and having a prestigious job, I didn't have any sense of who Verity was or why she captivated rich successful men. Or most importantly, why she liked to Crave.

And what I REALLY didn't like was the ending. The whole book felt like we were building up to a climax and I do not feel like I received any satisfaction at the end. Let's keep this PG and compare my feelings on this book to a sneeze. You feel like you are gonna sneeze, you're ready to feel that satisfaction, and then you DON'T SNEEZE. Isn't that the worst feeling?! That's the feeling the book gave me after I finished reading. And I'm sorry, I have to bring of Flynn again. The "utterly chilling final line" - NOPE. Not utterly chilling. I mean, sure, it was creepy. But the whole book was creepy. The final line was simply a balloon deflating for me. A feeling of "oh, that's all?"

Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and the publisher for an ARC.

Not a bad lad...#ourkindofcruelty #netgalley #aramintahall

"You're not a bad lad just because bad things have happened to you, Elaine used to say..." wow. a five-star read for sure, one of the most compelling stories i've read in ages. what a study of the psychology of the human mind. i hesitate to say more, other than "Our Kind of Cruelty" is so so good. good like a train wreck good. good like who is the psycho here good. good like i've not read anything else quite like it good. it's good...read it.

thanks to netgalley for the DRC.

Obsession, madness, passion, desire, fear...all wrapped up in an explosive bundle and told from the viewpoint of a lovable but unreliable narrator. This novel hooked me from the beginning as Mike describes The Crave, a game he plays with Verity in which he "rescues" her from a random stranger at a bar. And so begins the odd and intense relationship between these two, highlighted by the fact that Mike is the product of a neglectful mother and taken into the foster system early in his childhood. His love for V is so overwhelming that even with the announcement of her upcoming wedding to another man, he is convinced this is part of their game and he must save her from this fateful mistake. How far will he go to assure her he is The One and what is he capable of to ensure the future for the two of them? The answers will both surprise and horrify you as we witness the conversations he has with himself and others as he must convince the world that V is all he craves and he will stop at nothing to achieve his goal! A fascinating thriller!

This book grabbed me from the very beginning and kept me reaching for it until the end. I was fascinated by the main character but his “two personalities “ just didn’t add up for me. The book started with great momentum but by the trial I was losing a little interest. I would say this book is much more of a character study and not a thriller but nonetheless, I still enjoyed it, even though I found the ending a bit anticlimactic.

The synopsis seems innocent enough, but this is no love story - at least no normal love story. Hall brilliantly paints a convincing portrait of a delusional stalker, and while his behavior is often infuriating, his actions are almost understandable thanks to Hall's finesse. Fans of Claire Kendal's THE BOOK OF YOU and Caroline Kepnes' YOU will devour this one.

The synopsis for this book sounds like a love story – Mike has survived a difficult childhood to become a seemingly normal human being. But he wasn’t complete until he met Verity, she alone can make him happy, and so he does everything possible to make her life fabulous – a lovely home, the perfect job. How does Verity feel about all this? Is she breathless with joy? Not quite. This is one of the most twisted, frightening stories of obsession I have ever read, and readers will find an all to familiar element in this book, something all to similar to life in 2017.

3.5 stars...I think. I'm not sure how to rate this, and I may come back and change my rating. I raced through this book and could barely put it down--so it was certainly compelling and had me itching to find out what happened next. I don't want to give too much away, but it's a dark story about one man's delusional obsession, from his perspective. It was not what I was expecting, from the blurb. And when it ended, I felt unsatisfied, and empty. I don't think the ending was necessarily supposed to be satisfying, so I can't say the book failed in any way, but I rate books mainly based on how I feel about them after I finish reading--and right now I don't feel especially good. But I also did think the book was well-done...thus my confusion over how to rate. And perhaps that is a good outcome of a psychological thriller, but I'm still not sure whether I'd recommend this book based on my feelings at the end.

There’s nothing I love more than an unreliable narrator and a sort of fall from grace/descent into madness type character development and this book is exactly that.

Arguably I have to admit the entirety of part 3 was my favorite and that sort of back and forth between one persons narrative against the others all the while trying to decide who is telling the truth, who is wrapped up in their own mind or who is just playing a game and to have that happen in this beautifully written back and forth format felt like I was watching a great law show and I couldn’t wait to get the ending.

It’s fascinating to read through someone’s growing obsession and their ability to easily erase or scramble words or body language in order to make it fit with the story they want to be living in while completely ignoring anything that could jeopardize that fantasy, and how the system could, with the right people orchestrating after the fact, make their actions seem completely normal and even romantic to the point that they are the true victim.

This is a great thriller type read and perfect for anyone who enjoys a true crime type book that leans into the psychology of what makes a person act the way that they do, and how that may lead to the creation of a murderer.

**thank you to netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**