Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

28 reviews

books_hay's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Gaslighting and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, and Domestic abuse

kyrstin_p1989's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I almost DNF’d this which I never do because it was so slow — it felt like nothing at all happened for the first 150 pages or so. The end picked up and was actually really good, which saved this book from being a 1 or 2 star. I didn’t see a lot of what happened coming but not because of the mystery, just because it felt like nothing at all was revealed at the beginning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Torture, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Alcohol, Confinement, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Sexual violence

whitls's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Mental illness, Suicide, Vomit, Misogyny, and Self harm

throwback682's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

3.5

Somewhat of a love it or hate it type book. I wish I could rate it on how much I enjoyed it (3.0) vs. how much I think many others might enjoy it (4.25). I saw five star reviews written in excited all caps, and a one star that said they wish they could fight the book next to a Burger King dumpster LOL. 

As others said, I think it kind of dragged on. Some of the twists were predictable - but I find it hard to believe the reviews where people said they predicted ALL of them. The ending did really shock me. Part of me wishes I’d read Cliff’s Notes of the first half of the book and listened to the second half. 

For a long time I thought perhaps the family secrets had something to do with

Nazis. Because of Nick’s comment in the Cave about the Gestapo, the mysterious origins of Sophie and the concierge. etc.

I’m not sure if that was intentional or just me?

The audiobook narration seems to be where I differ from most reviewers. I found this book corny at times, and the acting was EXTRA corny. I rolled my eyes at Sophie’s going on and on about how thin and put together she is, but listening to Mimi speak was 10x worse. I don’t see why one actor can’t do all the characters: in fact, the actors DO play multiple characters. When Nick speaks in Jess’s chapters, Jess’s actor voices his quotes, not his actor. That could’ve been done through the whole thing. It just felt really cheesy in an already kind of cheesy book. [I had the same problem with the audiobook for the Hunting Party.]

The audiobook recording includes a podcast interview of the author at the end, and honestly, hearing some analysis of the book improved my opinion of it somewhat. I don’t think there are any spoilers in it? So I might recommend folks listen to that before they listen to the book itself perhaps? 

NOTHING in this book was the bisexual representation we wanted.

Three members of the same family fucking or trying to fuck the same guy was… Yeah, corny, like I said. And then Nick, who’s already fooled around with Ben, also almost sleeps with Ben’s sister? But oops he’s actually completely gay and it’s only because she reminds him of her brother. Eye roll. And yes I knew way before the “reveal” that Mimi’s roommate was f**king Antoine’s wife. Nice try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Gaslighting, Addiction, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Violence, Alcoholism, Deportation, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Slavery, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Trafficking, and Vomit

Minor: Pedophilia, Suicide, Abortion, and Domestic abuse

midnightbelles's review

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

This kinda dragged and I didn’t love the split perspectives at times but it was pretty interesting to see how everything unfolded and to piece together the mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Cursing, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Death, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Gore, Infertility, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

shull3464's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Trafficking, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

meaghanslibrary's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Hmm I feel like this is more in between a 3.75 and a 4. 

The way I realized the author writes mysteries is with light cliffhangers. The chapters are short and alternate points of view. Each chapter ends with a bit of a longing for wanting more but it’s not so much that you’ll get nightmares or stay up all night thinking about it if you don’t read the whole book in one sitting.

To some extent, I enjoyed that for the health of my sleeping habits. But on the other hand, I think the best mysteries on the ones I couldn’t put down.

The big twist that they were a family really got me that had a lot of shock factor. But after that the subsequent twists I semi expected. For instance the connection between the housekeeper character and the granddaughter seemed the most obvious. The wine cellars being used as a way to pay for women was not surprising. The fact that Ben was still alive was kind of shocking although I did suspect the dad was in fact killed but that Ben probably also was killed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Classism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infertility, Alcoholism, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Vomit, Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking

louisesbookcorner_32's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Gaslighting, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Stalking and Sexual content

jenna_justi2004's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Abortion, Child abuse, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

tori2629's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this book a lot! I listened on Audiobook, and the pacing and progression kept my interest from start to finish. Sure, I guessed one or two things early on, some of the details were not super subtle, but that said, I'd say three main "reveals" were still surprising to me. None of the characters were particularly "likeable", but in this case, I didn't mind. I honestly liked it just as much as The Guest List, and I have her other books on my To-Read list. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Confinement, Infidelity, Drug use, and Mental illness