Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Final Girls by Riley Sager

23 reviews

candaaaace's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

bookswithlauren's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I enjoyed this one for the most part! I did find it hard to follow at times but other than that, I really liked it! The plot twists were shocking and I didn’t guess them! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, and Vomit

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

haileyhardcover's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Who doesn’t love a good ole slasher serial killer mystery? I know I do! 

This is my second Riley Sager book and I’m officially counting myself as a fan. Though I think I was more gripped and surprised by The Only One Left, Final Girls was a really fun read and was a much more visual experience for me! The story jumps back and forth between the event that made the main character, Quincy, a “Final Girl” to begin with and present day. In the chapters detailing what occurred at Pine Cottage, it almost felt like I was watching a slasher movie; the images were so clear in my head. Really compelling writing, with just enough detail to build the image in your mind without overdoing it and getting overly descriptive. If Sager wrote a book that was just entirely a slasher story, I’m certain I would absolutely devour it! (Has he? Clearly I need to check out the descriptions of all of his books now!)

I will say, I figured out the mystery to this one pretty early on, but I still really enjoyed the story leading up to finding out I was correct! I think Sager does a really fantastic job of planning his stories and finding ways to subtly work in clues for those of us who like to race to solve the mystery. His are books that, if you were to read them a second time, I think you would spend most of the time smacking your own forehead and exclaiming “How did I miss that?!” 

I’m looking forward to more Riley Sager in the future. Final Girls is an easy 5 stars!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

moxiereads's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

exteeny's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

beatsbybecca's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

This a quick and enjoyable read especially for any horror fans - although the horror parts here are more of a backstory than the present day mystery at hand, and I do wish we got more chapters at Pine Cottage. I'm also not sure that the twist ending here is particularly earned (parts are but not the final twist IMO). This was just my second Riley Sager read after The House Across the Lake, so I am gathering out-of-nowhere controversial endings to be kind of his "thing." THATL ending worked for me, this one not as much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I thought this was going one way, which had me concerned, but then it went a different way and I was pleasantly (and horrifyingly) surprised. I thought the plot was well done and very suspenseful. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rockyc5's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

FUN!!!
I had a great time with this and would recommend to anyone who loves the Final Girl concept or Final Girls. 

Interesting that a man wrote it...would love a similar story from a girl's perspective.

I'm not the best predictor but I thought the twist(s) were good.

I'd like it as a movie too!

Kind of unfortunate so much of it had to do with sex and then the whole virginity question, especially because it didn't seemed framed in the fraught context of final girls' sexuality. Still had 'sluts for first' trope but it was nice that the weird kid wasnt a killer. The two explicitly or diagnosed mentally ill charcters were great

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Suicide, and Violence

jaymerrick's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content