Hard to review without spoiling, but Michael definitely has issues and V doesn't make it easy for him to resolve those. With an alcoholic mother and a childhood in a foster home, Michael never really learned normal relationships. Hooking up with Verity (V) in college din't help the situation as the games they play to space up their sex life sprays out of control. A good psychological thriller well worth the read.

Oh Mike. Mike never really had a chance to be a normal functioning human with normal functioning relationships. I want to be careful what I say as this book could be ruined with spoilers. This book is dark and psychological and addresses many dangerous subjects: like old sexual games and manipulation. I enjoyed the read, but I did kinda hope it would be a little darker. I think this will see the same popularity as books like "Best Day Ever."  I liked it a lot, but I did not love it. It is a page-turner  and never boring.

This was a really interesting look at obsession and psychopathy. That being said, nothing particularly surprised me, I kept waiting for some kind of twist. When it didn't happen, it made me feel like I had invested a lot in reading the story that I already thought was going to happen.

Fans of "You" by Caroline Kepnes will enjoy Our Kind of Cruelty. A creepy, unreliable, stalker of a narrator tells his side of a story involving his beloved ex-girlfriend and a horrible accident.

Wow!   This is a very dark, twisted novel about obsession.  Mike loves V and is crafting the perfect life for them.  The fact that she’s getting married to someone else isn’t enough to alter his plans.  

Like Dr. Frankenstein, V has created Mike, but just like the monster, he’s gone off the rails.  The story works so well for being told solely from Mike’s perspective.  No matter what V does or says, he twists it to fit his version of reality.  It’s delightfully scary.  

I had trouble believing several of V’s actions, however, including the wedding invitation.   Given the way V and Mike separated, I just couldn’t see her wanting him there.  I can’t believe she really thought they’d ever be friends.  Maybe it just goes to show Mike wasn’t the only one seeing things through a distorted lens.  

And then we get to the third part and there’s a wild twist.  I really didn’t see it coming.  It really pumped up the story a notch by adding a layer about how society views sexually active women.  

I recommend this to anyone who likes dark psychological thrillers.  It’s a quick, sick read.  

My thanks to netgalley and Farrah, Strauss and Giroux for an advance copy of this novel.

Wow, buckle up for a wild and crazy ride!  This dark, psychological thriller is disturbing, riveting, and full of obsessions, lies, and delusions.  At times this book made me feel uncomfortable, but for some reason I couldn't put it down.  Definitely an entertaining read!

OUR KIND OF CRUELTY is one of those eyebrow raising, mouth agape, and “are these people for real” good read.  This is an unusual contemporary psychological thriller about manipulation, perversion, obsession and just plain crazy.  

Author Araminta Hall draws the reader into the eight year, game playing love affair of Michael Hayes and Verity Metcalf from page one as we watch in fascination as they engage in their perverse game of Crave.  The story is told from Mike’s POV.   He is the type of guy who seems reliable and is physically appealing - tall, good looking, body enhanced by weight lifting and daily runs, but lurking just below the surface is the child of poverty, abused and emotionally unstable, whose skewed perception of reality makes this seemingly innocuous guy a walking time bomb.

The Verity character, on the other hand, is a little harder to pin down.  Is she the unsuspecting bystander or the devious exploiter or Mike’s obsessive love and devotion? 

When murder enters the game it’s a question of who is telling the truth, who can be trusted?

For the answer to this and other questions, latch on to this brain twister for an ominous thrill ride you won’t soon forget.

This book was ok. It is a quick read, but it leaves me with too many questions. I want to know her side of the story. Why does she still wear the Eagle? Overall, the book was a good read, perfect for a few hours of entertainment, but nothing too thought provoking or challenging.

This book made its way into my head and I have a feeling it’s going to live there for a very long time.

This was such a twisted story, I was never quite sure exactly what or who to believe. Mike definitely wormed his way in to my heart in a tragic and wounded kind of way. He was, for me, a very compelling character. I was never quite sure what to make of Verity. How I would love a sequel told from her viewpoint. 

What made this book special for me was the exquisite story telling. I felt Mike’s confusion, and it added to the darkness and seduction of the story. Was he truly obsessed or was it all just a part of the Game they played? The author has created a truly fabulous character in Mike, one I was never quite sure whether I should love or hate and I think that was the whole point.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of domestic and psychological suspense. This one gave me the shivers and still continues to do so weeks later. It was spectacular.

"I crave you"

"We know what love is: the kindest and the cruelest emotion." Ain't that the truth my friends....

Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall is one heck of a ride. I felt like I was watching my favorite channel ID.... I'd Kill for you. This is a whole mess of lies, sex, obsession, stalking, jealously, greed, and rage. It can't get more juicy then that! 

I can definitely see this being a top thriller for 2018. I think this would be a fabulous group read or with a book club. 

Mike is mady in love with Verity. Verity also used to love Mike but she broke up with him after a bit of infidelity on Mike's part. Mike never truly moved on from Verity but on the other hand Verity announces that she is getting married. Mike seems to be fine with it and is thinking Verity is making Mike pay for his mistake. Mike believes it's all part of a sex game that they used to play together called "The Crave." 

So.. I know what you're thinking what could possibly go wrong here? Oh... my friends love triangles never can last......

I am on the outlier coulee island again on this one.... with my average rating. Don't get me wrong this was entertaining BUT it could have been better. I was loosing interest in part 2 of the novel where we constantly kept hearing about Mike's obsession with Verity. I think we could have cut some of this out.

I feel like Araminta left her readers hanging a little bit with the end of the story. I think I would have enjoyed this more if we were able to see Verity's perspective. The entire novel was based off of Mike's character. 

I am impressed with Araminta nonetheless and look forward to seeing what she comes out with next.

3.5 obsessive stars!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the arc. 
Publication date: 5/8/18
Published to GR: 4/22/18

There’s something fascinating about obsession, which is why I thought this would be a for sure win for me. But male obsession has been done before and nowhere more perfectly than Caroline Kepnes’ “You.” That’s the problem with “Our Kind of Cruelty”—it’s no “You.” Our protagonist here doesn’t convince you he’s in the right, he isn’t charming, his actions never seem justified—he’s just crazy (which could be fascinating on its own though it misses the mark here too). The whole time you keep waiting for the switch—the moment when you get to say “oh my god”—but that moment never comes and instead, you’re left with a misplaced social commentary (on the treatment of female sexuality... yeah, I know) you never asked for. 

That being said, I would definitely try another book by Araminta Hall in the future.

2.5 stars
I feel like I am in the minority here where I didn't really feel this.  I love dark psychological thriller an this was advertised as such but didn't really get that vibe and found myself several times finding other things to do when I had the time to sit and read. 
Mike is crazy delusional, Mike loves Verity, Verity used to love Mike, Mike has an incident while in America, Verity uses it as her way out.  Mike moves back and begins building the life he and Verity always dreamed of only to find that Verity is engaged to be married but she can't possibly "Love" the man as he thinks they are in the middle of a game they played when they were together called the "Crave."  What could possibly go wrong?

This was a fast paced page turner of a book. But, ultimately, not so much suspenseful as just downright stalker crazy. And, the ending wasn't enough of a payoff for me to recommend. The modern "psychological thriller" has become too much of a trope, I fear.

received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is told entirely from the perspective of Mike, a successful banker, who does not accept that his ex-girlfriend Verity has truly broken up with him and is happy to be marrying Angus. Instead Mike is convinced Verity is continuing with a sexual game the two of them used to play called the Crave. I don't think its a spoiler to say that Mike is delusional and an unreliable narrator. The inner workings of his mind are fully laid bare to the reader, to an extent (specially in the middle) that is convoluted and repetitive.

For me the court room scenes worked the best, and I was hoping for a different ending to the one we got. Mike has had a tragic childhood and that part was also well done, but by the end I was finding being in Mike's head all the time too much.

Visit https://www.mysteryinminutes.com/revi... to read the complete Mystery in Minutes review!
Haunting and thought-provoking, with an underlying sense of inescapable menace, Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall is a psychological drama that keeps the reader enthralled and turning the pages right up until its unsettling finish.

Our Kind of Cruelty is, at its heart, the tale of one character's obsessive fixation with another.

Or is it?

This is a story that plays with the antagonist/protagonist paradigm. Perceptions can seem off-kilter, the reader never completely certain if the character shown to be delusional is strictly mentally ill, or, if their dreadful upbringing, as well as their social and impulse-control challenges have made them vulnerable to being molded, manipulated, and taken advantage of under the guise of love and desire. Fueled by the psychology - or psychopathy - of the other, whose fantasy is being fulfilled? What is real, and who is being truthful?

We learn at the beginning of the book that one of the characters has been convicted of a crime. The reader spends most of the remainder of the novel feeling the vise tightening, and the walls slowly closing in, as the reader creeps toward whatever precipitated that character's prison sentence, and the courtroom trial leading up to it. There are a number of ingenious and subtle references to the works of other, well-known, female crime writers sprinkled throughout Our Kind of Cruelty. 

Potential readers should be aware that there is a notable amount of sexual content in the book. If you are a fan of the novel "You" by Caroline Kepnes, if you are a reader who found the antagonist/protagonist push-pull of Ms. Kepnes's characters, particularly Joe Goldberg, fascinating, and if you enjoyed Joe's salacious, titillating, and twisted narrative, there is an excellent chance that you will find Our Kind of Cruelty, by British author Araminta Hall, addictive, compelling, and very clever indeed.

Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall is a novel of psychological suspense that is much in the same category of YOU by Caroline Kepnes. This is the type of book that let’s readers see up close just why restraining orders were invented and give all the single ladies a reason to think twice about their dates.

The story takes readers into the mind of Mike Hayes. Mike has come from a horrible background a childhood that when hearing about would bring tears to any compassionate person’s eyes. He’s now in a successful job and in love with Verity Metcalf and planning their life together.

The problem with Mike’s love story is that Verity broke off the relationship with Mike after a few years together. Mike had cheated on Verity but this is just her excuse to end things. Mike however thinks back to the games they played while together and hasn’t quite gotten the memo that Verity has moved on.

Our Kind of Cruelty is yet again the type of book that has one thinking I need to scrub my brain after spending a few hours in the main character’s head. Mike is obviously not what one would classify as “normal” with his thoughts but yet he passes as such to many around him. It’s very hard not to become engaged just waiting for the train wreck to happen as you know it’s coming.

Comparing this one to YOU however is a bit of a double edged sword. The writing is good and the story is compelling but it lacked that extra spark that had YOU standing out from the crowd. Mike did not have the sarcastic humor Joe possessed and he was not as extreme in his motions. There was also a deeper message of the dangers of social media involved in YOU that I didn’t find with this one either.

However, without nit picking the details this one is still a highly relevant read to show just how far some actually do go with their obsessions. Stalkers are a very real thing and unfortunately some women actually do live in fear of men who claim to love them dearly. That my friends is Mike’s true love story that is being told and the author did a very good job doing so.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Fast paced book that made me both hate and feel bad for the narrator.  I couldn't decide what to believe and that just made me want to finish the book faster.  If you loved You by Caroline Kepnes then you will enjoy this book.

Since everyone else's review is saying it, I'll mention it too--this book holds some similarities to YOU by Caroline Kepnes. YOU is one of the best books I have read in recent memory, so once I made the comparisons, it was hard to stop comparing the two novels. But, Our Kind of Cruelty has a psychopathic main character with issues all his own.

The story is told from the viewpoint of Mike, whose girlfriend Verity (V for short) has broken up with him after he cheated on her while away at a job in New York City. Since Mike and V were obsessed with each other and were together for seven years doing things like sex games involving strangers, Mike takes this loss extremely hard. He eventually gains some perspective and he just knows that even though V is marrying someone else, she'll come back around to needing him and he'll be there waiting when she does.

Mike's creepiness jumps off the page at you. He's not even a somewhat likable psycho like Joe from YOU. The only person in the world he cares about is Verity, and he can barely spare a nice word to anyone else in his path. His coworkers and neighbors have noticed something off about him, but he seems to think of himself as normal and therein lies some of his psychosis.

To say Mike is obsessed with V is an understatement. He goes above and beyond the "normal stalker" actions like watching her inside her house, to some truly disturbing behaviors that again, he does not see any problem with. In his mind, he's just doing whatever it takes to allow his love to come back to him.

There are two parts to this book, really, and for my part I found the tension and tone leading up to the climax more exciting than the aftermath. For me the final few chapters were a bit boring, and I read them kind of hurriedly so I could go ahead and finish the book. Unlike some others, I didn't find the plot to have a big twist, and although I wouldn't quite call it predictable, I knew some of the things were bound to happen.

Our Kind of Cruelty presents an interesting and timely juxtaposition between the truths and perceptions of male and female sexuality, and the constant fight between the person we are now and the one we used to be. I know this novel will have thriller fans talking this summer.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for sending me this title in exchange for a fair review. 

Our Kind Of Cruelty is a tense, taught yarn that follows one single fiber of an idea: what goes on in the mind of a stalker?  Here, the author nails the personality and voice spot-on; Mike is everything you would expect a stalker to be. He’s obsessive, single-minded, relentless, creepy, annoying. 

Mike had a thing with V. She moved on. He never could. He refuses to believe it’s over. And in reading Our Kind Of Cruelty, we are privy to the inner voice of someone troubled and damaged and dangerous. 

The novel unfolds slowly, tension building yet it doesn’t ever release. There aren’t surprises. Just a jaw-dropping that arrives fairly early and happens several times. 

If you think of this as a character study more than a mystery, it won’t disappoint.

I couldn't put this book down; I was so enthralled by the voice and the suspense of it all! I love unreliable narrators, and Mike was about as unreliable as they come. ;) There were moments in the book where my mouth just dropped open in shock at some of the justifications he was using for his behavior, and the build to the end kept me turning pages as quick as possible so I could find out what was really going on. 

...That brings me to the reason I can't give this book 5 stars. I was waiting and waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole time I was reading, and it never really did. Maybe it's because I'm familiar with the mindset of guys like Mike, but nothing happened in the end that I didn't expect. I loved the feminist aspects of the book, and how it outlines how women are treated in the court systems--however, I also felt as though there was a lot of tension built toward some kind of "twist," and that twist never came to fruition.

I would not hesitate to buy another book by Araminta Hall--she's an extremely skilled writer and her characterization of Mike was spot on, to the point that it was eerie. I would also not hesitate to give this book to friends, although I wouldn't compare it to Gone Girl--as many people are--so much as something like Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris. It's a solid psychological thriller, but I have a hard time describing it as "twisty" per se.

All in all, a very compelling read!