Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

73 reviews

loudonuts's review

dark emotional sad 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

3.0

a gruesome story that was ultimately about the bond between sisters. it didn’t exceed my expectations but it was an okay thriller. at the beginning the hyper descriptive violence was shocking and intense, but by the end of it, it felt pretty gratuitous. was the aim to desensitise me, or was it just bad at keeping me engaged? unfortunately i’m not sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Infidelity

beegster16's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cursing, Fatphobia, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

uncouthsibyl's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

2.0

way way too much sexual violence and torture no thanks

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

kind of wish i hadn’t read

sabrinakreads's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

This book was too dark with the sexual assault parts. But it was a very well done thriller book. Very well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

akcurtis's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.5

Parts of this were really challenging to read. It was more graphic than I expected (should have read more reviews!). That aside, even though it was fairly predictable, I wanted to know how it would all turn out, and the ending is satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Drug abuse

klh7's review

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Rape, and Sexual violence

elmasalihovic's review

dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, and Fatphobia

Minor: Cursing and Gun violence

leleggio's review

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

itsallrosiee's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Trafficking, Stalking, and Murder

daydaybookbay's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

3.25

I rated this book a 6.5 out of 10. The descriptions of torture get to be a bit much at times. I guessed the big twists, but I enjoyed the storyline and the small reveals. The torture content makes me question if I would read it again.

I do not recommend this book if you are triggered at all by: abuse. child abduction, drug abuse, gore, gun violence, murder, parent death, pedophilia, rape, sexual assult, suicide, torture. 

Please be aware that all of these topics and more are focused on at one point or another in this novel.

The characters are well developed and rounded. As a reader, you become invested in both the main characters as well as other characters (the father Sam, and Julia). I felt the pacing was steady and gave the perfect amount of time for buildup and resolution. Slaughter's storytelling is amazing.

Back to this trigger warnings bit. At some point, is this graphic torture for shock value? Kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder of teenagers... I almost stopped reading it. I can see it happening as I'm reading, so to have someone described as being raped by a machete... or the urine waterboarding. nope. Not my thing. Just the ongoing shock-value events in the second half are what knocked the rating down a bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Stalking, Car accident, and Classism