Reviews with content warning for Torture - Girl A

**triggers** extreme child abuse, neglect, starvation. malnutrition, suicide, mental illness, death of a child.

what a great book !! This story is told for the POV of Lex, or "Girl A" the one who escaped and saved her siblings from the "House of Horrors". Lex is one of 7 children who were held captive ,starved, chained up and abused by their father, while their mother stood by and did nothing to protect her children. At the age 15, Lex risks her life to escape and save her family. Before the cops arrive to save the other children, her father committed suicide, leaving her mother to take the blame for all and spend the rest of her life in prison. Her mother dies in prison, leaving the "house of horrors" to the children.

This book is about how Lex, and her siblings survived the abuse of their childhood, the relationship they have now and how each sibling dealt with the trauma differently. I thought it was so interesting to see how each child grew up and dealed with the trauma in a different way. I was also heartbroken most of the book, thinking about what the kids went through and how strong they were to even survive in the first place.

**side note- this book is marketed as a thriller, but to me it was not that. It was an excellent book, but I don't think there was anything thrilling about it.

Content Warnings

dayday_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

2.5

Where to begin? I hated this book and I had super high hopes for it. I guess it's marketed as a thriller but I didn't know that, I just thought the premise sounded great. It starts off confusing, has a few bright spots, but mostly just dragged for me. So let's talk about what I didn't like:
Problem#1: the characters
I never understood what people meant about enjoying character-driven stories until now. I couldn't connect with ANY of the characters. I didn't care about them or their plight and I was uninterested and unmoved by them. This has never happened to me where there wasn't at least one character I liked. I hated all of them, including Girl A (Lexi) herself. She has issues with a capital I and although she had tons of therapy, so much i still unresolved. I won't even get in yo my issues with the rest of the siblings.

Problem #2: character development (or lack thereof)
You got no sense of who the siblings really were as people because we saw everything through Lexi's lens. So they don't have the nuance that fully developed characters do. You get glimpsed in to them but not the why's and wherefore of it all. They do provide some context and help the story along but that's about it.

Problem #3: the chapter lengths! OMG. It was like they were never-ending. At first, I thought that I had missed something but nope. They really are one great long chapter. This probably would've been okay if the perspective of the actual character the chapter was about had been presented, but no.

Problem #4: the "twists"
They actually aren't bad per se. I felt dumb for not immediately seeing the first one as it was kinda in your face all along and I had QUESTIONS that the twist answered. Should've seen it coming and when it did I flipped back through the book and went; OH. Now these things make sense. Except there's no real resolution for them. Also the last twist (at least that I noticed) just solidified my feelings regarding a certain character.

***Note: I understand that 1 & 2 are very similar and related but I feel like in this case, they are two separate issues***

Now for the good: I didn't enjoy my time with this book so I don't have much good to say. It is a character study in trauma, grief, PTSD and family. So there's that.

Overall, I don't think that I'd personally recommend this to anyone although lots of people have enjoyed it. Trgger and content warnings abound so be sure to check those out before reading.

Content Warnings