But there was a novel twist to this scathing one-star thumbs-down written by the Amazon user MacKenzie Bezos. She is the wife of Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, and the target of her derision was a new book about her husband.
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone was published last week to glowing reviews, both in media outlets and on Amazon itself.
But Mrs Bezos, a novelist, who has been married to Jeff Bezos for more than 20 years, claims the book is inaccurate and unbalanced. She used her own name and identified herself as the billionaire's wife in her 900-word takedown, which has been confirmed as genuine.
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In a review entitled "I wanted to like this book", she pours scorn on Mr Stone's efforts to describe Mr Bezos's state of mind at key moments and she argues that Stone relies too heavily on negative insiders' accounts.
"The book passes off speculation about his thoughts and intentions as fact," she writes, saying that Mr Stone deploys "techniques that stretch the boundaries of non-fiction".
She continues: "When the author does include people whose accounts of a supportive and inspiring culture contradict his thesis, he refers to them dismissively throughout the book as robots."
Amazon was a pioneer in running customer reviews of the products it sells. But several cases have been reported where anonymous book reviews have been written by literary or academic rivals, spouses or even staff. Mrs Bezos of course makes no effort to hide her identity as her involvement is the basis for her tirade.
As of writing, the book has received 35 five-star reviews and just three one-star appraisals on Amazon, with an average 4.4 rating. But the review by Mrs Bezos is deemed the "most helpful" by 1769 of 1964 users. It is not clear how many, if any, of those come from Seattle, where Amazon is based.
Mr Bezos declined to cooperate for the book, but Mr Stone said that he has spoken to him several times in the past and interviewed more than 300 people.
Mr Stone said he stands by his book but will correct any mistakes, and said he could at least offer an objective account of Mr Bezos's career. "I can assume I'm less biased than Jeff Bezos's wife,
