Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Angel Maker by Alex North

24 reviews

wperdue92's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Mental illness, and Child abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child death, and Drug abuse

Religious fanaticism

unboxedjack's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Child death, Kidnapping, Violence, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicide, and Murder

gkaltam's review

dark sad tense medium-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Gore

chatty_cath's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

jraley_writes's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Murder, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Torture

literary_obsessed22's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

mirificmoxie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Addiction, Stalking, Drug abuse, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Gaslighting and Toxic relationship

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Death, Addiction, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Child death

Minor: Alcohol, Child abuse, Infertility, Gore, Stalking, Torture, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Drug use

kris386's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, and Abandonment

Minor: Infertility, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Suicide

rosemaryandrue's review

dark hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

Katie and her brother Chris have had a strained relationship ever since the brutal attack on Chris that changed their lives forever. Decades later, it might be too late to fix things when Chris goes missing.

In this book, we are introduced to two separate mysteries that inevitably wind together – the disappearance of Chris Shaw, and the murder of Alan Hobbs – and the way that they come together made me exercise my brain and sometimes stretched my incredulity. I would hesitate to call this a mystery, as we are given nearly all the pieces in the first section of the book – it is fitting them all together which takes time.

I enjoyed the clever writing, and the theme of determinism that forms the keystone of the story, the question of if our pasts determine our present, or if we are more than the sum of our parts. I also really liked the sibling relationship between Katie and Chris, which is very complicated but still loving, and empathized with Katie’s need to not give up on her brother.

However, I thought the story moved along rather slowly, and while some reveals were well-done, I felt that others had been so telegraphed so obviously that they were rather robbed of their impact. There was also a supernatural elements to the story which I wasn’t expecting – though they are alluded to in the blurb, I did not realized how thoroughly the author leaned into them – and it seemed that many other readers were taken aback as well. Also, while I liked the character of Detective Page, I felt that his side of the narrative never really rose above being a device to move the plot along.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book, which is narrated by Rosalie Craig. I thought she did a good job of differentiating characters, and was especially good at portraying the fear and horror that characters felt during the story.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury