Reviews tagging 'Torture'

How to Kill Men and Get Away With It by Katy Brent

39 reviews

lala_reads_too's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Miscarriage

mandareads222's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Vomit, Pregnancy, and War

peacefrog's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

A lot darker than most of the books I have been reading. While there is quite a bit of humour throughout the book, it is very dark. The twists and turns throughout kept me engaged in the story despite the graphic gore. I wanted to try something different - this was absolutely different.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, and Blood

galactic_gigi's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Started this book at 1 a.m. during my exam weeks. Huge mistake! Couldn‘t put it down and actually spoiled myself as to who the stalker was to even go to sleep. Needless to say I basically finished the book in a day. The characters are not really loveable but oddly charming and the dark humour was right up my alley.

I‘m really glad Kitty doesn’t get caught

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

toribth's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

You know what - this actually wasn't bad at all lol. It did take some getting used to the whole absurdity of the situation, but once you embrace the fact that this posh influencer girlie goes around chopping up rapists and sex offenders like she's doing her laundry, it gets quite entertaining.

The writing is very fast paced, which allows for a quick and easygoing read, and as you move along the story, puzzle pieces about the protagonist's past fall into place and things just get decidedly more unhinged. It was a bit too over the top sometimes, though. Plus, most of the plot consists of how she finds and kills her victims, which only barely managed to avoid getting tedious. Some details were rushed, some a bit random, but all in all, it was good.

Anyway, I liked the story once I accepted it for what it was. It was refreshingly unhinged and VERY soothing for my vengeful little man-hater heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

bakingbookworm's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

This book caught my attention with its title. How could it not? 

 

Sadly, the story beneath the cover page was disappointing. It started off with a cool writing style that made me think it was a mix of Finley Donovan and Dexter. You know, a lighter (albeit murderous) read that would have me giggling and have menfolk, upon seeing the cover, questioning if they want to get on my bad side. 

 

But it's not that kind of read. 

 

In the beginning, the book had a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek vibe with a shallow but quirky main character. But the story changes to a darker satirical feel (satire is so not my jam) that was often outrageous and off-putting with a cast that is made up of well-to-do, self-indulgent, obnoxious socialites and at their centre is Kitty Collins. She's a debutante and social media influencer who happens upon the first couple of murders and then decides that she's going to be a vigilante and right the wrongs against women by murdering despicable, abusive men. I didn't mind that Kitty was unlikeable, but she wasn't all that interesting. 

 

I loved the short chapters, but the story felt unbalanced and I'm not sure what this book was trying to be. The main plot - Kitty's murder rampage - is often overshadowed by the overemphasis of influencer and vegan culture. And despite the quirky vibe, the gore factor is very high with graphic torture scenes of people and animals, a few uncomfortable sexual scenes. Sexual assault is discussed several times with child sexual abuse briefly described as well. 

 

This was a quick read and despite the mounting body count, it was the mystery of Kitty's stalker that had me turning the pages. Dark, over-the-top, uncomfortable and a bit bland, this book wasn't a good fit for me. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Torture

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Child abuse

dr_kat's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.75

There are enough reviews here that y’all can get what this book is about. I’m gonna say this: it was super fun and creative and, yes, gory and violent. I really liked Kitty Collins’s and Tor and was totally captivated by their narratives unfolding. The villains were all scary af, as villains should be; but they were also good representations of the flaws in villains (and why they don’t “win” in the end). So often serial killer stories give the killer (and the hunter, sometimes) these kinds of supernatural kinds of abilities and that can quickly get ridiculous. Brent doesn’t do that — there’s a lot of how life happens, how people only see what they expect to see, etc. — and I think that’s why it works. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

annniina98's review against another edition

4.0

The ending was a bit of a let down, but not enough to destroy this. This was what I hoped from A Certain Hunger, I'm so happy that I read this so close to that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

calicat42's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

chantaldehaine's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

The ending is better than the beginning and middle. I didnt find it funny at all - the reviews led me to believe it would be funny.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail