Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Club by Ellery Lloyd

18 reviews

rainbow10's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow. This book was crazy!!! There were so many twists and turns, and all of the characters added so many layers! I highly recommend if you love murder mysteries with a twist…

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual content

finsleft's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Murder, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Adult/minor relationship

what_heather_loves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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

"Then, as she was approaching and her heel caught a little on the edge of the Persian rug, her hand shooting out to steady herself, Ned looked up. And she saw the way he registered her stumble, an accident that might have happened to anyone. The quick glance up at her. The cruel flicker of a sneer. And it hit her that it did not matter, that an end had always been inevitable, that she could have been younger, older, quieter, louder, said too much to the press, said not enough to the press, and there would always have been a reason to get rid of her eventually. And in that moment she realised there was really only one thing left for her to do."

A psychological thriller with a number of locked room mysteries (set on an island) that only become apparent as the plot progresses. Chapters, from the perspectives of four of the main characters (all Home Group staff) are interspersed with a Vanity Fair article written after the slowly-revealed, blackmail, dramas and tragedies. The exclusive and luxury club's members are wealthy and influential and increasingly dislikeable celebrities. Chapters are short and many finish with a cliffhanger or dramatic reveal. It's fast-paced and compelling, becomes clear the situation and characters are a powder-keg where despicable people have devastating secrets and others are seeking revenge. By the end there have been deaths and revenges achieved! I throughly enjoyed reading this tense and escapist novel, which I read for this month's #TastingNotesBookClub from @the_book_taster

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Car accident

Moderate: Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Addiction and Suicidal thoughts

jstroud's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

A slow start but the pace picks up as more is revealed about the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, and Sexual content

archaicrobin's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

2.0

This one takes a bit of grace with reality and to get through it you really do need to suspend your disbelief but it was an interesting premise that just seems to fizzle our halfway through. 

Ned Groom is a millionaire that thrives off of hosting the worlds biggest stars at his resorts. Told from multiple perspectives the reader begins to unravel the tragedies that occurred during the weekend of Ned’s newest venture, island home’s launch. 

This thriller has lots of characters and lots of twists, at times too many. I really enjoyed this one at first, it was fast paced with interesting characters, and a fun premise but halfway through the twists started getting gratuitous and the story just got dull. I didn’t really care for any of the characters by the end and everything took way too long to happen. 

I read a lot of thrillers and this wasn’t the worst one I’ve read but it didn’t really do anything for me either to make it stand out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Classism, Violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, Murder, Car accident, Death, Rape, and Toxic relationship

dorsetreader's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Bullying, Car accident, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Rape

annelihghh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Car accident, Classism, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Sexism, Murder, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Dementia and Fire/Fire injury

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.0

have i ever read a book where i hated more characters? no!!! what a feat

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Infidelity, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Dementia

angelkisses's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Enjoyable. Definitely better than her previous book (which I didn't realise was by the same author! so that was something fun to discover). Reminded me of The Guest List which is probably why I enjoyed it. It's more of a classic murder mystery than I was expecting (based on the blurb I don't know why but I assumed it would be more cultish) but once I adjusted my expectations I began to enjoy it more. TBH too many perspectives and now that I think about it I feel like cutting either Jess's or Adam/Annie's out could've made for a tighter story (considering the gravity and magnitude of the main point which was "celebrities get away with everything" and the obvious references to #MeToo). Also, why was Lauren's perspective (one chapter...) included at all? It was jarring and unnecessary -- at least the other perspectives allowed you to develop a deeper understanding of these characters but having ONE chapter be Lauren's perspective provides practically no insight I found it to be an indulgence that detracted from the overall story. Nikki FTW.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

tallhousecookies's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

2.75

It's a great concept for a book: a Soho House-like hotel opening on an island where people go missing and murdered. The problem was that I didn't have a chance to care about any of the narrators because of the constantly switching POV. I liked the idea of the alternating narrator, but it wasn't executed as well as it could have been. I really wanted to like it, but I found myself praying for it to be over.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infidelity, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Violence