Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Final Girls by Riley Sager

11 reviews

jstew89's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

I'll admit, most of the main characters really annoyed me for the first half of the book; I think I just have a low tolerance for most protagonists these days. That being said, by the second half of the book I was very into Quincy's story, and while I wasn't rooting for her necessarily, I was hooked on just what happened that fateful night in Pine Cottage. The other characters really grew on me throughout the novel, although I do think that

Jeff got the short end of the stick in the end. I'm also REALLY glad that Sam/Tina didn't die.</i>

One thing I liked is that I didn't figure out who was the murderer until the reveal, although some of the leaps in logic the characters took were... questionable. There were times where Quincy had a realization by looking at new information and would say something like "It was so obvious now" and then make a WILD leap in rationalization. Those don't generally bother me (especially as an escape room enthusiast) but some of these felt egregious. Overall I enjoyed the book and it had me up until 2 AM one night where I couldn't put it down, so it was definitely engaging. It has some issues but overall, super enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Stalking

amandalachelle's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Body horror, Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Vomit, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent and Eating disorder

mnc84's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Cursing, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Rape

rachaelbunny's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Suicide, Alcohol, and Gore

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, Sexual content, Addiction, Vomit, and Stalking

Minor: Sexual assault, Cancer, Police brutality, and Death of parent

alisonfaith426's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Vomit

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I have thought of Riley Sager as a favorite author for a long time now, but kept putting of his debut, until now. I was very pleased with how much I ended up enjoying this novel! This story follows Quincy, who ten years ago, became a final girl. On that terrible night, her and her friends went to a cabin in the woods to celebrate, but only Quincy, with no memory of what happened, made it back home. Now, she is trying to move on and live her life without constantly being reminded of the night that changed everything. She receives news that another final girl was found dead, under suspicious circumstances. Is Quincy safe, and can she finally remember what happened to her friends? 
This book had some twists and turns that I did not see coming, but everything felt in the realm of reality, which I always appreciate in a thriller. It was not my favorite Riley Sager novel, but I still very much enjoyed it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Minor: Infidelity

ermcurtis's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Drug abuse, and Physical abuse

bookishgoob's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

2.0

“I’m the moth that got careless with the flame. Now i’m engulfed” slow paced and utterly uninteresting in the first half, you follow a girl with no memory of what happened to her after being the only survivor of a massacre that left all of her friends dead. she was the only survivor. she was a “final girl” a term used when talking about horror movies most of the time to describe the girl at the end of a movie that is the only survivor of what happened. the first 50% of this book left me with the feeling of wanting to just not finish at all but I don’t like to DNF books unless it’s so terrible or uninteresting so i pushed through and finished it. the twists and turns were surprising, but only to an extent. i called a few of them from a mile away, a few of them though were not so easy to spot. switching from the final girls perspective to a 3rd person account of what happened to her 10 years early was an interesting choice, just not very well executed in my opinion. not getting much on either end of the story made it dull and it felt slightly repetitive. all in all, i’m glad i finished it but i would not read it again and i don’t think i would really recommend it. unless you like slow paced stories that really feel like they have no direction in the beginning. i give this read a 2/5. it was an okay spooky season read. but if you have a choice between this title, or another thriller, i would vote that you get the other one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Torture

sylvestra's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Vomit

ggcd1981's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

Nota: 3.25 estrelas 

Já fazia um tempo que queria tentar ler algo do autor Riley Sager pela primeira vez, então quando tive oportunidade li Final girls. Sager é um autor que é bastante popular entre os leitores de Mystery/thriller e isso me deixou curiosa. A minha primeira experiência com uma obra do autor não foi bem o que eu esperava. Acredito que por ouvir tantas pessoas recomendarem seus livros acabei, involuntariamente, criando uma grande expectativa. Essa expectativa fez com que eu achasse Final girls bastante mediano. Contudo, essa impressão foi causada por minhas próprias expectativas altas, o livro não realmente tem culpa. Final girls não é um mal livro, foi relativamente bem escrito, apesar de aqui e acolá haverem algumas frases bastante questionáveis (brega mesmo). 

Como pontos negativos posso apontar: as mencionadas frases cringey; A primeira metade do livro tem um passo um pouco lento, em dado momento questionei se o livro era realmente considerado Mystery/Thriller/Horror devido a lentidão; personagens não agradáveis que você não consegue realmente se afeiçoar completamente; por ser um autor homem escrevendo cenas sexuais do ponto de vista de uma protagonista feminina achei estas cenas um pouco desagradáveis; o final foi um pouco “fácil” com Tina decidindo assumir a culpa pelo crime de Quincy. 

Os pontos positivos são: Livro relativamente bem escrito, mostrando duas linhas temporais, o “Presente” como Final girl de Quincy e o “Passado” do que aconteceu em Pine Cottage; O autor teve o cuidado de escrever personagens femininas complexas (mesmo que desagradáveis) e examinar, especialmente no caso de Quincy, como o trauma do massacre sobrevivido influência na vida no seu dia a dia (o esforço da personagem em parecer e dizer a si mesma que tudo está bem, quando seus comportamentos mostram outra coisa); o Twist do enredo me surpreendeu, eu não previ quem era o real culpado por Pine Cottage e o assassinato da Final girl Lisa.

Em conclusão o livro foi bom, mas minha expectativa de Riley Sager em conjunto com os pontos negativos citados tornaram a experiência de ler Final Girl mediana, ainda que o twist eu não tenha previsto. Acho que 3.25 estrelas é justo, a obra foi interessante e me surpreendeu. Em geral experiência de leitura positiva porém nada que eu considere memorável. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders