Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

10 reviews

bumblingbee03's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad medium-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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rylin_marie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

4.25

omggggg i love this series !!!

okay so for a while i shipped stevie and david, then stevie and nate, then stevie and hunter, and then overall picked david. 

the ellingham family is so dear to my heart i love them. and dottie epstein !! they all deserved sm better my heart breaks for them all. 

the only thing that annoys me is the stereotyping. this book automatically assumed all republicans are bad and racist and sexist which def isn’t true. i get there are DEFINITELY some people (not just republicans) like that and its completely disgusting bhr just assuming they all are is kinda annoying ? 

(if we’re being so fr i hated david for like 99% of the series and tbh im still not a huge fan 😭)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

blewballoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It's hard to talk about this one without spoiling anything, I tried to avoid even reading the synopsis of these books after I started the first one and I think that's the best way to go into it. I know this isn't the true end of the series, but this book is a good stopping point if you get this far and don't immediately want to continue (which is the case for me). Overall I did enjoy this mystery and the eclectic mix of characters involved. I enjoyed the chapters from the past and then seeing the information there reflected in the present. If you are looking for a YA mystery/thriller with a romance that only kind of gets in the way, I would recommend this. There are some slightly more graphic passages dealing with deaths, especially in the parts of the story that take place in the past, but it's usually from characters describing what they experienced and the reader is just filling in the blanks.

I did figure out who was responsible for the present day deaths, but only a little bit before the reveal. I had considered a variety of suspects and I was actually really glad it wasn't some of the people I thought it might be. I think the ending was satisfying, although I wish the guilty party hadn't gone out the way they did.

---

Content Warnings

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

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, and Vomit

m4rtt4's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.25

You know a story is well created when you can stretch a single murder mystery into 3 books! Things wrapped up nicely in this finale, and even though I guessed the final plot twist quite early on, I wasn't disappointed or bored but rather excited to see my own predictions become true. This one wasn't as thrilling as the second one, The Vanishing Stair (my fave in the trilogy), and so it doesn't deserve that high of a rating because

the snowed-in part seemed to drag on for ever and ever and also there were too many scenes where they just read Edward King files with nothing exciting happening

but yeah, still a great book which I binge-read quite fast.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

whewtaewoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Drug abuse and Gun violence

Minor: Child abuse

strongsun's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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? No

4.5

Bit annoying nothing came up about the dna or whatever proof it was that Alice's estate had so stevie didnt technically solve the mystery

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

emily_mh's review against another edition

dark medium-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

2.0

This was terrible. I invested three books worth of time and money for THIS???????

Already, the culprit of the original mystery being Marsh was disappointing, not because I had predicted this from book one, but because money isn't an interesting motive!! It sucks!! And then Johnson goes and makes it the motive for the MODERN murders too???? And the murderer is a bare sketch of a character at that??? And also, it turns out Alice died of measles???? Did someone say massive cop out??? And then Stevie doesn't want to present the evidence about Alice's real parents, because that way the money stays with the school. With a PRIVATE. SCHOOL. Set up by a BILLIONAIRE. And people go on thinking Alice is missing instead of paying her respects and letting her rest. Other annoying things include: nothing actually happening in this book and a lack of tension despite the really interesting premise of being snowed in on a mountain in the middle of nowhere; David suddenly being okay with Stevie; Frankie and Eddie serving no purpose or character arc beyond hoarding evidence for future Stevie to find; and finally, the random moose motif that doesn't mean anything. The only thing saving this book from a one star is that it was borderline entertaining and creepy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Child birth, explosions, adoption, loss of a loved one (friend, aunt), illness

coolbeancat's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

mariekejee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I enjoyed this book the most out of the three, I think. I grew to like the friend group a lot (although I still have some very mixed feelings about David) and the resolution of the mysteries was very satisfying. I liked the parts where it's trying to be cheeky and self-aware about being a mystery - the part where

Larry walked into the room with the wall scanner and Stevie started complaining about how long-winded her speech was, had me laughing out loud

. 

It's entertaining - but as a YA novel with teenagers as protagonists, it's also a bit horrifying. I'm usually not too bothered by people dying in these typical mystery novels (I was promised murder and I will be disappointed if I don't <i>get</i> murder, ya hear me), but the idea that two kids died in such an awful, sad way is horrifying.

The fact that an adult purposely man slaughtered these kids is even worse and honestly makes me feel gross

. The resolution of the Alice plot line was also heartbreaking. I didn't realise until this book that Alice was <i>just three years old</i> when she was kidnapped. There's just a lot of sad crime in this book.

I enjoyed the flashbacks to 1936, and getting to know these characters involved in the Ellingham case. The David plot line/romance is still a bit hit-or-miss for me (although I am such a sucker for the "two people are fighting but they're trapped somewhere and might not get out so they need to sort out their shit" trope). Stevie is still an irresponsible little shit sometimes and I don't understand how these adults don't keep her locked up somewhere but it makes for a fun read, at least. Speaking of irresponsible: what is the deal with Germaine? The story wants me to believe she

was the one watching Stevie from the outside, but girl, you're in the middle of a fucking blizzard. Where the fuck was she staying? Why was she outside Stevie's window at midnight? You can't expect me to believe she stayed alive by just kicking it without a place to hide from the storm

.

Oh well, teenage antics aside, this was a good book. If you're into mystery stories and don't get queasy by a little underage murder, then I'd recommend this series. The cliffhangers are a bit unfair, but they kept me reading. The tension keeps building throughout the series and although it takes 1000 pages for the mystery to be completely resolved, it's worth it in the end and I'm glad I kept reading. Maybe I'll even pick up more of Johnson's books! Who knows.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Drug use and Gun violence

doriangay's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Grief