Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

205 reviews

kiarra_s's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

I feel like this story has altered my brain chemistry; I’m not even the same person after reading this! 🚨 Warning: This is dark! It contains very disturbing material cc serial r*pists/killers, manipulation, and torture!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, and Gaslighting

bookmarked_byhan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

sannesbooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This was very good. It start slow with character devlopment in a more literary fiction way. After about 100 pages the thriller part starts and you are hooked. This is a true page-turner. 

This story is absolutely horriffic, gruesome, and dark. Definitely not for the faint of heart! I was triggered multiple times and I am not easily triggered in the wsy this book triggered me. So, this is definitely a book you should consider carefully, and you need to be in the right mindset to read this.

The fact that you don't know who to trust gives the story another scary element. 
I loved reading about the sister dynamic. 

The story is told from the POVs of two sisters, and the diary from their dad. The diary was not super interesting to me.
The ending wasn't my favorite. It felt a bit sloppily finished. But for the rest this was an amazing thriller and I would recommend it to anyone who can handle dark thrillers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicide, Stalking, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Infidelity

carmella10's review

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

harvchick's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Body horror, Rape, Kidnapping, Murder, and Gaslighting

thissagreads's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

TRIGGER WARNINGS GALORE!!!!! Reader beware! This book had me taking mental breaks, because of how heinous and graphically disturbing the writing was. But the story, characters, and the backstories are very well written, and had the reader rooting for Claire and Lydia.

Pros of this story:

1. There is some closure, and vengeance.

2. Well written and thought out story.

Cons: 

1. HEAVY SA AND TORTURE!

2. The Heinous things that are described, becomes so brutal and graphic, that it feels overdone ans unnecessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Stalking

becinneverland's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

thepurplepeep's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting

stayceee24's review

dark medium-paced

4.25

I get the feeling this is a book that nobody should really like. The trigger warnings are endless, and if I was rating this book on the first 40% it would be rated a lot lower, because it was very disjointed and hard to follow at first. 

Once the pace picked up, so did the quality of the story and I kept going to see what happened to Julia, to see what Paul was really capable of, and to that extent, to see what Claire was truly capable of. If I were Claire, I’d have done much worse than what she did. He deserved much, much worse than just being shot twice.

Overall though, I actually really enjoyed the story, when I probably shouldn’t.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

pipermrc's review

challenging dark fast-paced

I don’t know that I would have read this had I known the extent of the graphic violence against women. Really good thriller. Fantastic, actually. But I can’t give it a fair rating because it was very triggering. Be aware going into this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Gaslighting