Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay

16 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

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

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

sydoodle's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

kingrosereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A mass murder mystery-thriller with some 90s throwback scenes. 

On New Year's Eve 1999, the teenaged employees of Blockbuster in Linden, New Jersey, are excited to welcome in Y2K. But before they can close, they’re all brutally murdered. All but one. The remaining survivor, Ella, is haunted by the events of that night. Fifteen years later, an eerily similar attack happens in an ice cream shop in Linden, again with only one survivor, Jesse. Ella returns to town, now a therapist, to help Jesse navigate her new world and hopefully solve both crimes once and for all.

The story has multiple POVs: Ella, Chris (the brother of the alleged Blockbuster murderer and now public defender), and Agent Keller (a very pregnant FBI agent assigned to help the local PD). I wasn’t a fan of Ella or how her character was written, but I thought Jesse was really compelling. Chris was also written well, but the women in his life not so much. Keller was okay, but kind of just there and sorta just randomly solves the crimes. Atticus was my one true love in this whole book. The best personality, that guy. 

I gotta say, I’m not always a fan of thriller novels since the ones I’ve read tend to be really predictable and have annoying pacing, but this book was paced well and had me on the edge of my seat a few times. At some point, different mysteries became predictable and the main big bad in this story had a rather rushed climax with minimal information on the resolution. The book’s murders are much like the yogurt shop murders that happened in Austin 1991, and I can’t see the author’s choice of motive really fitting in this kind of case. Also, hated that the only character of color was killed. 

A decent thriller. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Toxic relationship

bre88's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, and Classism

wonderfulxwonderful's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, and Gaslighting