Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Last Word by Taylor Adams

13 reviews

lexithelion's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

This book is incredible, I loved it. It was my first introduction to this author and I picked up this book on a whim before I went on vacation. It took me a very short time to finish because it was very hard to put down; I kept wanting to know what happened next. The author is very good at writing compelling characters and created a beautiful plot line. At one point it does get a little frustrating because people keep “dying” but keep coming back, and in my opinion it happens way too much and at one point I stopped believing that anyone was actually dead. But otherwise I will pick up more books from this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Grief

lmayfieldx's review against another edition

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

1.0

📖 third person

📖 dual pov

📖 reader fmc

📖 dog’s thoughts

📖 flashbacks

emma is house sitting at a beach house in washington. she has ample time to read & she’s enjoying it. she stumbles across a book that she didn’t enjoy. she left a 1 star rating & soon after began being tormented & harassed by someone. she quickly realizes it must be the author, because who else could it be? she has to do everything she can so that her and her dog, laika, can escape

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is it ironic to give this book 1 star, when that was the forming point of the book? maybe. is my rating still a 1 star? absolutely

first & foremost - laika does not die. when things started happening to the dog, i googled to see if she would survive, bc if not it was going to be an immediate dnf. i wish i had still dnf’d though, bc this book was not it 

this book was terrible and honestly i don’t understand all of the people rating it so high & raving about it. did we read the same thing?

this book is dual pov, but it may as well have been one pov. the fmc’s pov says something and then the mmc’s pov says the exact opposite & vice versa. it was him constantly believing he’s such a mastermind & so great, fast forward to the fmc’s pov talking about how much of an idiot he is (disclaimer - she was correct)

also the ending of the book is weird. it goes from  chapter 38 to the acknowledgments to a statement from the strand beach pd to chapter 39 to the epilogue? was this just an audiobook error? possibly. was it annoying? yes bc if i hadn’t kept listening past the acknowledgments, i’d have missed part of it - which in reality, would i have been missing anything? no. but still, it’s the point 

your tbrs are too long to waste time on foolish books. do yourself a favor & skip this one. i wish i had. the author owes me compensation for wasting time of my life on this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, and Stalking

reahbee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

THE DOG IS FINE. Lest anyone dnf for fear. No promises on any of the people.

This was so much more than the suspenseful, slasher-y book I thought I was getting into (though it was that too.) A master class on how to end a story, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Grief

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Self harm, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pandemic/Epidemic

child death

,

car accident

missgrangerr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I adore Taylor Adams. Having read most of his books, this one I have to admit isn't my favorite but it is still very well told and plotted. Fans of Adams who are looking for gore, violence, and cat and mouse games will be happy with this read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

rafiniert's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Sexism

Minor: Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

_alyssabrown's review against another edition

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

4.5

 Finished reading: August 7th 2023

"Coincidences are fine in real life. But in fiction, they're bad writing."

I’ve been meaning to try his books for years now, and of course there was no way that I was going to resist the blurb of The Last Word for long. I love books with bookish angles, and what is more fascinating AND terrifying than a thriller read where an author slash killer goes after a person leaving him a one star review? And while things can be said about the plot being over the top and you definitely have to suspend your belief, I personally didn’t care because I was too busy enjoying the ride. This was exactly the dark, twisted and exhilarating read I needed! There is just something about the writing style that makes it very easy to fly through the pages, and the plot itself only increases that pace. The POVs are somehow blurred in points, and at times it takes a second before you realize who is in the spotlight; this would usually highly annoy me, but somehow in The Last Word it only added to the suspense. There are plenty of twists along the way as well, and with (at times) two contrasting POVs telling how the events happened it makes you wonder what is the real version. Again, this is usually something that would bother me, but in this case it somehow worked. Even the characters: none of them are exactly likeable, but since the main focus is on the plot and the life or death situation it's not as important. The Last Word definitely tips its toe in the horror genre though, and warnings are in place for particularly gruesome and graphic scenes as well as animal cruelty. If you think you can stomach those and like your thrillers on the dark and twisted side, I can highly recommend this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

laurasalwaysreading's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Infertility, Self harm, Violence, Grief, Stalking, and Car accident

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.5

I selected this title as a Book of the Month pick.
"The Last Word" is a fast-paced thriller that follows Emma Carpenter and her golden retriever, Laika, as Emma house sits for a woman named Jules in a beachfront property. With nothing else to do, Emma spends her days reading, and after she posts a negative review of a book, she feels like she is being stalked by the author. Can her and Laika make it through the night alive, or will she become just like the victims in the author's gruesome horror novels?
In true Taylor Adams fashion, this book is graphic, gruesome, and really made me uncomfortable at times. I was so anxious throughout my reading experience because I kept waiting for something to happen to Laika and I was distraught. My anxiety hindered my enjoyment of the novel because I CANNOT read about an animal dying, and I was so worried the whole time.
Emma is a complex character, and I enjoyed reading from her perspective most of the time. Some of her rationale felt a little too convenient to propel the story forward, but I really enjoyed uncovering why she was running away from her life. I also adored her love for Laika. She did everything to save her dog, and I loved seeing their interactions together.
The big twist of who Kane, the author turned stalker, was turned out kind of interesting, but I also felt like I saw it coming.
My favorite aspect of this novel is that Taylor Adams presented this timely discourse about whether an author should be on review platforms. On the one hand, an author could use reviews to help them better hone their craft and listen to what their readers want from them in the future. On the other hand, a review platform is supposed to be safe place for readers to share their thoughts. I really enjoyed seeing this idea manipulated into a story.
Taylor Adams is definitely talented at what he does, and I will continue to pick him up in the future! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail