5 stars

Dysfunctional family + Betrayal + Murder = Our Little Cruelties

It is with the deepest regret that I inform you that this book makes you lose track of time, makes you want to shirk all your quotidian responsibilities, and keeps you guessing right up to the 99% mark.

Let me paint you a picture. A young woman, annoyed that work kept her late, stays up till 3 am so that she can spend enough time with her book. She wakes up at 8 am, and instead of rushing to get ready for the office day, lays in bed and reads ferociously — damn it, she’ll finish this book before she goes to work again — she needs to know who dies. At 10:20 am, after frantic calls from her mum to check if she’s overslept (bc this is a regular occurrence), and after finishing the entire book, she gets ready in 10 mins and runs to catch the 10:30 am bus to work.

Spoiler alert: that young woman is me. The book in question is Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent.

"All three of the Drumm brothers were at the funeral, although one of us was in a coffin."

These are the chilling, yet intriguing words that Our Little Cruelties starts with.

This is my second Nugent book, and I was very generously invited by Penguin Random House to read and review this book — a blessing and a treat for me, because Nugent is one of my most favourite authors. Her writing in Our Little Cruelties was as compelling as her writing in Skin Deep, and I was immediately drawn into the Drumm family drama.

The premise is this — the Drumm brothers, Will, Brian and Luke, grow up envying each other, always competing and comparing. For them, familial love means selling each other out, as long as the one doing the betraying profits in some way.

Success only means something if they’re ahead of the other two.

The story starts with two of the brothers attending the third one’s funeral. We don’t know which brother is dead (murdered), and which ones are alive.

Divided into four major parts, and narrated in disjointed, non-sequential chapters, Our Little Cruelties tells the story of the Drumm brothers, right from their childhood to the funeral. The first three parts are allocated for each brother, while in the final part, chapters are narrated by all three. Occasionally, there are anonymous flash forwards describing the funeral from one of the two surviving Drumm brothers’ POV, and that only serves to keep the reader on their toes.

Set in Ireland, as Nugent’s stories are wont to do, despite the non-linearity of the narration, a vivid timeline is painted in the reader’s mind — so intricately clear is Nugent’s writing. As one progresses through the book, it’s easy to see how the same event affected each brother differently, how their mother’s partiality affected each one’s approach to life.

Les characters:

—> Will is a Harvey Weinstein type asshole, who thinks women are objects meant for his pleasure and nothing more. He’s a film producer, and his wealth gets to his head.

—> Luke is a has-been pop star, in and out of rehab, unstable thanks to his mental health issues. He’s a good guy, but his mental health issues make it difficult for the people around him.

—> Brian is a skinflint, jealous of his brothers’ wealth/fame, eager to manipulate them and make money off them. He secretly charges Luke a large amount of his royalties in order to look after him when he has his episodes — something that most families would do out of love rather than for monetary reasons.

The Drumm family, in short, is a very messed up, dysfunctional family unit, with the primary reason for all their issues being their mum. She’s very open in her hatred of Luke, and openly displays that she loves only Will. While their dad is a good parent, it’s not enough to undo the damage she inflicts on each one’s psyche over the years.

In my eyes, the mum is cruel, as are Will and Brian. Luke, I felt strongly empathetic towards — he was never cruel to anyone; he was just selfish and hedonistic about alcohol and cocaine. He never put down or abused women, or sold out his family for money. I was angry at times, horrified at others, and sometimes sympathetic even.

The emotions I felt and the fast pace of this book made it a very intense read for me. It was an impending avalanche whose beauty and destruction I couldn't look away from.

As Daisy, Will’s daughter notes, the only “normal” brother is the one who’s heavily into drugs. Says something about the Drumm family, no?

Liz Nugent, once more, has created characters whose lives it’s easy to lose yourself in. You’re so invested in the story, you don’t realise it’s no longer night; it’s early morning and the birds are chirping outside your window. It’s captivating and fascinating, and spits you out at the end, like you’ve been on the highest of roller-coasters.

Nugent is fantastic, this book is fantastic, and with this book, she’s permanently cemented herself as one of my favourite authors.

Stop reading this review, and go pre-order this book. It comes out in March 2020. You won’t be disappointed if thrillers and Shakespearean dramas are your thing.

The cruelties of the Drumm family are going to stay with me for a long time, and I’d like to thank Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the digital ARC. It was bloody terrific, and I loved every moment of it.

TW: Parental negligence, emotional abuse, manipulation, drugs/overdose, alcoholism, abuse of women, suicide attempts, murder.

I have read all of Liz Nugent’s books and this latest psychological thriller certainly didn’t disappoint. This book was unique and I loved the whole idea behind it. Kept me gripped from start to finish

This is a story about three Irish brothers Brian, William and Luke, all the sons of a self-absorbed narcissist singer. it starts at the funeral of one of the brothers and we don't find out which one it is until the end, but is it the brother you expected or wanted it to be?

The story is told by all three brothers and jumps backwards and forwards. The only likeable character was Luke the rest were just vile.

William, the elder of the three is the firstborn. His mother’s favourite who can do no wrong. Good looking and charismatic but his attitude to women is appalling, especially beyond his teenage years.

Next comes Brian the middle one, always in William’s shadow. Frugal and usually looking out for his own interests but has a caring, nurturing side as long as there’s something in it for him.

Luke is the youngest. The sensitive, talented one whose sensitivities often threaten to send him over the edge into insanity. He feels the least loved of the three by his once famous show singing mother.

Utterly compelling, full of terrible people doing terrible things and I could not have enjoyed it more, bloody brilliant. Think your family might be somewhat dysfunctional? Think again. The Drumm family puts the dys into functional.

So how come I’m giving this five stars then? Well, despite the cast of utterly unlikeable characters, who I had little or no empathy with whatsoever. I loved Our Little Cruelties. Get a copy, dislike all the characters and have a great time doing it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for an advance copy in return for a fair and honest review.

This book deserves to be made into a movie and was read in 3 sittings. I am usually a thriller fan but was completely swayed by this story. From the mysterious opening which takes place at the funeral of one of the brothers, through flashbacks of the brothers’ lives highs and downfalls to the moment you discover who died in what circumstances and what is left in the aftermath.
The writing is brilliant and the narration clever: it allows you to jump from one brother to the other throughout the years with the author still managing to keep it fluid, enticing and gripping.
The end is chilling and completely unexpected, it left me reeling and kept me thinking about it for days. A book I did not want to end, will remember and definitely recommend!

A thoroughly unpleasant family right from the outset it seems there is no limit to what the brothers would do to hurt one another.
Told from multiple view points across multiple points in time the book cleverly shows how there is always more than one side to a story and that none of those sides has to be fair, just or good!
That said the cruelties described were hard to empathise with as there seemed to be no love lost between the brothers at all and no historical relationship where they ever really seemed to get on so each incident seemed more like the brother living in his own bubble and doing as he pleased rather than deliberate sibling sabotage.
The parents were equally unpleasant and self centered and it was easy to see where the brothers got their views and attitudes from.
An interesting read but I think more of a family drama than a thriller/mystery as the murder is really not central to the bulk of the story and remains almost incidental to the end.

This was an amazing read.
It reminded me of another favorite of mine, Christodora, by Tim Murphy, in the way it alternate POVs and went back and forth in time not only to give us different points of the same story but also to completely change our perspectivrs of which brother was to be pitied, which was to be hated, which was to be despised.

And the truth is that they all more or less alternate all roles (although I must say I couldn't find a single good thing to say about Will… ) and that is was fascinating to revisit each incident from another angle and realize how we each create our own realities.

When it comes to dysfunctional families I have unfortunately way too much personal experience so I can say with certainty that the Drumms are one screwed up bunch. But the way Liz Nugent (and I had never read anything of hers before but will now) wrote this novel made it credible, relatable, and, despite the apparent rawness she made it all with incredible sensitivity.

This has all to be one of the most talked books of 2020 and a masterpiece for years to come.

I'd like to.thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with and ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A dysfunctional family,not a nice one amongst them. Didn't enjoy it at all,not even much of a story. Some twists.

Liz Nugent does write good unlikeable difficult characters and this book has lots of those. Three brothers one dead. We hear the stories of each in turn through childhood and teens each are pretty unlikeable. I found the book really gripping and rushed to find out the conclusion even though I suspected what the end was.
It keeps you guessing all the way through and I loved the details of the brothers lives.

★★★✰✰ 3 stars

The opening lines of this novel are wonderfully theatrical:

“All three of the Drumm brothers were at the funeral, although one of us was in a coffin.”


Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent is a gleefully dark novel, filled with mean, selfish, and cruel individuals. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Nugent’s latest novel features one of the most unlikable casts of characters I have ever encountered in a book. And yet, while the Drumm brothers and most of their social circle, are certainly detestable, the satirical tone that pervades Nugent’s narratives makes her characters' nastiness a lot more ‘digestible’. Also, by exaggerating their worst traits and inflating the behaviours and reactions of nearly every-single character, the author gives her book a darkly humorous quality that keeps the story, and its characters, from being taken too seriously.

“You see, in our family somebody always had to be the butt of the joke.”


The alternating point of views and the non-linear structure of this novel add some spice to what would otherwise be a run-of-the-mill dark family drama. We have three brothers from Dublin:
William, a film producer who believes that his only ‘weakness’ are women and that he is the “most successful and least screwed-up” Drumm brother; Brian, the middle-child, who, as the only non-famous and rather forgettable brother, feels like the underdog of the family (but before readers begin to feel sympathetic towards him we soon see him for the greedy skinflint he really is); lastly, there is Luke, the youngest brother is perhaps the only one who isn’t a wholly repugnant being. He has his moments of dickishness but readers are soon confronted by the troubled state of his mental health. His life is punctuated by unhealthy behaviours: as a boy he went through a zealously religious phase, while years later, once his music career kicks off, he goes in and out of clinics, perpetually plagued by morbid hallucinations and nightmares. Alcoholisms, drugs, paranoia, depression, become the backdrop to his 20s and 30s.
In spite of their different career paths and lifestyles William, Brian, and Luke often find themselves, much to their chagrin, drawn back together. While we initially believe that Luke is the only Drumm brother to demonstrate concerning behaviour, we soon see notice that William and Brian aren’t as clear-headed as they’d like to believe.

“We all knew the experience had scarred him deeply, but it was one of our family’s little cruelties to revisit it, often.”


The story charts their bitter relationship as they try to one-up each other throughout the decades.
The three brothers have never been on easy terms. They are—and always have been—rivals. If something good happens to one of them, the other two are envious and feel they themselves are entitled to happiness/success/money. The little ‘cruelties’ that they do to one another can vary from a seemingly childish taunt to much more perfidious offences. As the narrative progresses we see that most of their interactions have always been either openly hostile or purely transactional.
Whichever brother is narrating will often paint himself as the blameless victim, the only ‘sane/good’ Drumm brother. I enjoyed discovering more about the Drumm’s familial history and found the story to be fairly suspenseful.

However, as much I enjoyed the ongoing melodrama between the Drumm brothers, part of me was ultimately unconvinced by the whole thing. From the first pages we understand that these three have never and will never love each other. Even Luke is far too self-involved to care for his older brothers. If he helps them out, he doesn’t do this out of selflessness.
The Drumm brothers have always resented or outright hated one another. At times it seems that there is some loyalty or affection between them but it is merely a false impression. They pretend to do things out of ‘brotherly’ concern or care but they are just trying to keep face (with their parents/partners/etc.). This made their recurring ‘betrayals’ less duplicitous. These ‘cruelties’ don’t seem all that cruel once we realise that they never shared a bond or connection. A toxic type of love would have been more interesting...but what we have here is three guys pretending—not very hard—that they feel something other than distaste for one another. They don’t seem hurt by the cruel words or slights they receive, rather they seem to think on the lines of ‘how dare he do this to me’.

I don’t know...I just didn’t feel the passion behind their actions. These characters weren’t unreliable as such. They simply recount events in a way that puts them in a good-light. And when they are describing some of their questionable behaviour they do so in a matter-of-fact way, without any ceremony. They quickly and efficiently justify their actions by saying that it was the only way or that the other brother deserved it.
It would have been a lot more interesting if they had done these cruelties to the people they loved rather than to people they did not care for. In fact, they seemed to care for no one but themselves.

For the most part Nugent does a terrific job in rendering certain time periods: from the 70s to the early 2000s. However, when it came to the 2010s she gives us a simplistic vision by portraying this time as little other than ‘the social media/influencer era’. Here we have cliche after cliche. William's daughter is the embodiment of the millennial (or what individuals of a certain age imagine all millennials to be like): she is attention-seeking, body-insecure, not very bright, bisexual only because it makes her seem alternative, a self-harmer, a fake depressive...in general Nugent's portrayal of mental illness struck me as little other than showy.

Speaking of female characters, the three main women in this novel came across as flat. Their actions made no sense and it would have been a lot more interesting to have some short sections from their povs. The Drumm's mother had the potential of being a complex character but she doesn't get a lot of page-time. William's wife is a mere plot device.

Also, as much as I was entertained by the sensationalist behaviour of these characters, I did find the latter-half of the novel to be slightly less intriguing than the first. The whole build up to ‘which one of them is dead’ loses a bit of its initial steam and the final reveal struck me as anticlimactic.
The epilogue was laughably cheesy, and I’m unsure if this was intentional or not.

Final verdict

Our Little Cruelties is best enjoyed as a wickedly fun read rather than a psychological thriller.
For the most part it is engaging and chock-full of drama between horrible people. The conversational style of the brothers’ narratives drew me in, so that I almost felt implicated by what they were telling me..
Dark moments or serious issues are treated with flippancy, in a soap-opera sort of manner. If you stop to think whether the story or characters make sense...well, it might ruin your reading experience.

“We three brothers all looked, one to the other. We knew it was inevitable.”

I struggled with this book as all the three brothers are rather unpleasant. There seemed to be no limits they wouldn't go to in order to hurt each other.
150 pages in I found myself thinking about the book frequently. I was desperate to find out who died.
I have always loved Liz Nuget's books.

I was not sure what to make of the Drumm brothers at all. You know one of them dies but you need to read it all to find out which one. I struggled reading about Will and nearly have up because he was such a horrible person and made me feel uncomfortable but I carried on to read about Brian who was different but almost as unlikable as Will. Luke was a totally different character but just as unsettling in a different way. To a certain extent all their lives had been affected in different ways by their mother and their loathing of each other. Glad I managed to finish the book but my feelings for them did not change, not certain if the two remaining brothers can make changes to their lives but I certainly hope they can.
Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books for the ARC in return for my honest review.

I struggled with this book. It starts with the funeral of one of 3 brothers and the story goes on to explain which brother has died. Each brother tells his story so the events of the past are repeated two or three times. I found this a little tedious and was not keen to go back to pick up the book.
I found it hard to like the characters which is also off putting. The characters are hard and selfish and their behaviours are repeated in each person's story and the damage they have done to their families is substantial.
I guess that this was not for me.

A book with a difference not so much a whodunit but who was it the victim that is not the murderer if there was one. To make sense of that perhaps I should explain as the book description says 3 brothers who happen to be Irish, they are at a funeral 2 standing one in the coffin. This is one mixed up family nearly makes my childhood family seem normal but not quite, life is stranger than fiction what else can I say.
I found this story gripping and unlike many family sagas it wasn't cringe worthy folk, but really well written hence it had me hooked. The answer is open all the way through with enough twists to have me guessing to the end, the ending being excellently scribed with any of the 3 a possibility of the wooden ending or the standing role. Is it Will the eldest a womaniser, Brain the skinflint or the youngest Luke the rock star. 🌟. There Mum was a former successful Show Girl then moved on to acting was a true star of the stage with a elder husband by 15 years. She had issues the only one resembling normal was the Dad but then what is normal the brothers loved him but were embarrassed by him cooking when their Mum was working or away.
The story takes you through several key moments in their lives from each of the brothers points of view one at a time then a telling of the climax with them all and the daughter only the one producded from the 3 she was called Daisy I sons. This is such a great story the characters are divese & wonderfully developed, even though the individual characters themselves are not very nice at times, just well written as said before in that is not over played despite the issues they faced, They reflects the issues of the various times through their lives as would be experienced at the time. I hope you will feel as immersed as I was it's an easy 5 stars you may feel it deserves more I did.

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 the 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.

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.

“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.”

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 a 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.

Our Little Cruelties 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 that 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 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.

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 into what actually happened. 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 perfect for me.

This is a book to be treasured from an amazing author and I would recommend reading it. I rate the book 4.5 stars and I would like to thank Penguin Books and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC copy of the book in return for an honest review.

First of all I have to say that I don't think the blurb gives an accurate summary of the book. This is not so much a psychological thriller as a contemporary drama. The Drumm family are probably as dysfunctional as you can get. Their story is told from the viewpoints of the three sons, Will, a film producer, Brian, the failure of the family (in his own words) and Luke, a pop star. It is told over the course of a number of years. Each in their turn tells of the betrayals of the others. They are an unpleasant bunch with Will perhaps being the worst. Luke I felt sorry for especially as his awful mother put him down at every opportunity. It's always interesting to read different accounts of the same events and although none of the main characters were appealing I found myself warming to them when they were narrating only to have this turned upside down when someone else put their point of view! This book wasn't what I expected from the blurb but I enjoyed it anyway. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Will, Brian, and Luke; the three brothers have been competing with each other for as long as they can remember... until one of them died.
Was either of his siblings responsible for his death?

The story is told from 3 perspectives, we learn each of the brothers' versions of their whole lives, from their childhood to adulthood.
The narrative is interspersed with personal accounts from one of the brothers' funeral, and we don't find out which one of them died until the very end.
I did enjoy this book, but it was a slow read and not exactly what I had expected. Rather than a thrilling and suspenseful story, it was a slow-burning recap of the brothers' lives and the little betrayals that kept accumulating over the years and had, in the end, resulted in the death of one of them.
The story does pick up at the end when the brothers learn about the aforementioned betrayals.
I also found the constant switching of the dates a little confusing.
I'm really on the fence about the rating. It was a good story that kept me interested throughout and that deserves 4 stars, but because I'm more in for thrilling, fast-paced rides, I'm leaning towards 3 stars.
Nonetheless, I still recommend this book to anyone who's looking for something other than a mind-blowing read full of twists and turns.
This was my first book from this author, but I will definitely check out her other books.

Liz Nugent's latest psychological thrillers 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 unbelievable cruel to her youngest, the fragile 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 story 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.

Three brothers who have competed all their lives for their mother’s love and admiration. Written from the points of view of each of the brothers, it is clever in the way it shows how easy it is to justify even our ugliest actions to ourselves – and that we never learn from mistakes but merely blame others. Liz Nugent is frighteningly good at depicting male narcissists.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I enjoyed this story very much and felt like I knew each character personally due to the description of them. I enjoyed the storyline. This is not my usual genre but in this instance I am extremely pleased and grateful for opening up my mind to something totally different. Thanks again.

Well, what can I say? Liz Nugent has done it again and written something completely new and different to all the rest. I was gripped and appalled in equal measure. If you think your family is dysfunctional this will make you feel like they are a walk in the park! The Drumm brothers are something else but at the same time totally believable.
Honestly, I loved everything about it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-copy in exchange for an honest review.