The Golden Spoon
Ratings60
Average rating3.5
Found most of the characters insufferable, taking too long to get to the actual murder mystery element.
DNF'ed at about 50%
I might have been able to push through if I was reading the physical text, but the narrator for Stella spoke with the standard AI accent.
There was just nothing going on in the plot. I was only interested in two characters and one was the first to leave the tent.
Furthermore, the similarities to GBBO were everywhere, but almost like they were written based upon a person who had seen only one episode of the show and described it to someone else who played a game of telephone with a bunch of kids and finally the author was at the end of the group. 6 contestants who cook for one week (with one bake per elimination), with two judges (who are also the hosts?), instead of around 14 bakers who cook 3 times per elimination, with two judges and two hosts. And there was little description of the foods that they made. The contestants also had no idea what they were baking until they got in the tent that day, which in real life would lead to the most simple of bakes, because they just don't have the time to test out new things.
And here's the really bad things. First, the lecherous older man judge who gets the youngest contestant drunk and takes her back to his room (and the contestant seems to be on board, but she was blotto... so, ick). Second, that the judges interact with the contestants outside of the competition, which would lead any normal person to question their judging. Third, Melody, who seemed to think that sabotage was the only way to create drama (including switching salt for sugar, orange essence for gasoline!?!, and turning burners up to high), which having watched most of the seasons of GBBO, there's no need for sabotage, the contestants are plenty capable of drama.
And fourth, and most egregious, all of the telling. We don't see any judging, we only hear about it after the fact. We don't see any of the eliminations, we hear about it. Even the most dramatic moments are recounted by a single person, rather than in the moment.
Was Fine. The narrator for Hanna though big time not for me. Why did she talk like that? Too bad I don't know which one she was.
Mystery book club pick for Feb.
Maxwell does a good job giving a different voice to all of these characters. I predict that this is one in which I enjoyed it while reading it but will quickly forget all about it. I wrote “meh” many times in my notes. I did a hybrid of audio and print on this one because I was in a time crunch.
This could have been better.....
There were so many characters, but we barely got to know any of them. There wasn't a murder that we knew about until the end and the last few chapters before the epilogue seemed so confusing!
I liked the whole idea of a Great British Bake Off murder mystery, but this wasn't quite it.
So many twists! There were several times I thought I has figured it all out and then something changed. The mystery was enjoyable. The multiple perspectives really helped tell this story better. This was a unique mystery that was really well done.
Had heard this was more of a cozy mystery than a thriller, and it was, but much better than the cozies I've read. It's more like a mysterious contemporary. I loved the setup of a cooking show, how everyone got their own perspective, the setting, and the short chapters. The little sprinkles of sabotage were great. It was very slow, but honestly I liked the slow parts even more! The ending I found nicely wrapped up, but very quick and predictable. This is a read more for the vibes than anything else!
Excellent for fans of baking, baking shows or of Agatha Christie books. Perfect for fans of all 3!
3.75 - loved the GBBO inspired setting; but in some places the editing choices (or lack thereof?) were rather annoying.
