Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay

24 reviews

cmbohn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I really liked this book. The dual timeline worked really well. The last few chapters just amped it up. I would definitely read more by this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Suicide, and Religious bigotry

semonnie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Blood, and Death of parent

the_bookish_babee's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

“‘𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬’”

🍦 first person
🍦 multiple pov
🍦 multiple timelines
🍦 similar crime
🍦 connected strangers
🍦 short chapters
🍦 fast paced

on new year’s eve in 1999 at blockbuster, four teenagers were working and attacked. only one survived. fast forward 15 years & this is happening all over again at an ice cream shop in the same town, with one person surviving…again

amid solving the latest crime, three strangers cross paths - the survivor from the blockbuster attack, the brother of the accused suspect, and fbi agent, sarah keller. how & why do their lives connect? will they be able to get to the bottom of this mystery?

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this book was really good! i loved the short chapters & how fast paced it was. it was entertaining & very attention grabbing early on in the book!

it was interesting to see how the dynamic of the connection of the three main characters unfolded. i also liked the parallels between the timeline in 1999 & present day

i did not see this ending coming, which i really enjoyed! i am pretty good at guessing the plots of mystery/thrillers, so sometimes they fall short for me in that way. this one did not!

this was my first book i’ve read by alex finlay. i have a couple of other books of his on my tbr & i’m excited to read them eventually 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Bullying, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

jessthemess8112's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I really enjoyed this book, but the ending was a bit anticlimactic. The author spent this whole book building and building to this big whodunit mystery, and the big reveal left a lot to be desired and a lot of unanswered questions.  Whatever happened to Mr. Nirvana, and why was he even mentioned except to throw you off? Did anything happen to Arpeggio and the other cop for leaving a major detail out of a report? Did Chris get any compensation for the fact that his brother was wrongly accused for 15 years? And of course, how did Steadman convince straight and narrow religious freaked family Katie to even get involved in the first place?  I rounded up to 3 stars because I enjoyed the mystery, but the unanswered questions kind of ruined it for me.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

sgrifgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Death

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Suicide and Stalking

dodgeremerson's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

Not the worst book, but it was very predictable. I called the killer from their introduction, as well as the other deaths that we discover early on. Kind of disappointing.

Also...

I am really frustrated that the promising young brown kid was killed off. He is the only death outside of the murders, and the only death "on the page." Why is the only POC mentioned the only death? Granted, it was clear he was going to die from the moment Finlay introducedhis mother with that "take care of my boy" line. But it is still irritating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Stalking, Abortion, and Death of parent

eevee_saur137's review against another edition

mysterious fast-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

2.75

This isn't a bad mystery, but it's a little overwritten in the sections where we see what characters are thinking. It is not subtle in the writing, and it can be hamfisted with its jokes and references. Clues can be buried, come out of left field, or just happen off-page (offscreen?) and after the reveals start flooding in, I wished the story would slow down. I wanted to know more about how the characters processed everything.

I don't mind the ending but I don't believe in the final couple, they had no chemistry or even opportunity to connect. And the fact that the only POC character ended up dead just disappoints me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Alcohol

It is a spoiler but

The reveal of the killer is also the revelation of multiple abusive, adult/minor relationships. Different minors, same adult.

vj_thompson's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

Wow, wow, wow. The ENDING!!!

The Night Shift is probably up there in being one of my favorite thrills. I didn’t see the ending coming at all. I did get one of the plot twists. I liked that two of the three characters had flaws that they were processing through while the whole story was playing out.

The ending was the Epilogue was the sweetest thing 💕 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Gore, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicide, Abortion, and Classism

tristinrose's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide

laurenslittlelibrary_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? No

3.75

I wasn’t completely blown away by this mystery/suspense. I feel like the villain could’ve been explored in more depth and that some of the side characters felt unnecessary to the story (like Rusty’s whole arrest). I did enjoy the multiple POV’s and the flashback chapter towards the end. I would’ve enjoyed a little more of the story from Jessie’s POV, but I liked how some of her side was portrayed between Ella and Sarah.  

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Pregnancy