Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

11 reviews

colorful_lulu's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

It was slow until 2/3 of the book. It had a very interesting concept it was just not paced as well as it could’ve been. I thought the way Holly Jackson described details, or rather which detailed she pointed out and which she omitted, was really cool. The romance plot line confused the hell out of me. The kiss scene was added in so randomly in the most unrealistic and illogical point of the scene.

The reason why they ended up kissing was because they were standing closely when placing the camera on the bookshelf but Rachel found it immediately so what’s the point of putting them in that situation?

I get that the romance subplot adds to the theme but it was so random

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Stalking, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Infertility and Pregnancy

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

♡ Plot Twist

♡ Missing Person Found

♡ Who Should You Trust?

A documentary for a missing woman who suddenly returns after sixteen years.  Bell is left to unravel the true, to find out who was lying to her about what happened that night her mom went missing.  Was she even really taken to begin with?  But Bell soon realizes she can’t trust the people she thought she could.

This was a bit slow but at about the 30% mark it kicked in.  This story was wild and I was so invested.  Each truth Bell found out added to the story so well.  The mystery, the suspense of what really happened when Rachel disappeared was all an addictive read.  I didn’t see some of the twists coming when it came to Rachel’s disappearance.  It was also really entertaining to see some of the behind the scenes of the making of the documentary.

Spice Level: n/a

Angst Level: 💧💧 (2/5)

POV: Third Person

Release Date: 07, September 2024

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

I love a story where all the loose ends are tied up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

abbiebonnyman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Blood, and Dementia

Minor: Torture

ccassidy98's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Dementia

hematthews's review against another edition

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Dementia

Minor: Stalking and Pregnancy

reghan_32's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, and Stalking

Minor: Torture and Abandonment

wondernaut55's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I adored this - it felt like a comeback from Five Survive, with a heavy focus on character development as well as an interesting mystery. Because of the equal focus on characters and a twisty plot, the pacing did suffer quite a bit, but I loved the characters and mystery enough to keep going. 

Strong Points: Characters, compelling setup, intrapersonal relationships, and themes

Weak Points: Not really many stakes to stick to the mystery until we got to a little past the halfway point - if we’re breaking this up into 4 acts, act 2 bogged down pretty quickly, and act 3 started strong but like a rollercoaster it dropped hard. I also felt like our villain’s motive was pretty weak and didnt unravel the mystery in the most satisfying way. However, the theme carried that on its back, and I loved the wrap-up for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

siennaflynn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Torture, Medical content, and Death of parent

wylanslcve'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

the funny thing about this book is that, even though I'd already pieced together 85% of what really happened fairly early on, holly jackson somehow managed to confuse me and make me second-guess myself consistently throughout this book in typical holly jackson fashion but honestly? I'm not complaining - this book is incredible in every sense of the word. it's very much what you'd expect there to be in one of jackson's books, filled with twists and turns and a meticulously-crafted mystery that left me completely hooked. seriously, I powered through most of the second half of this book in a single day, which is unusual for me nowadays. I do, however, have a couple of gripes with this one because no book is perfect and you need to be able to critically evaluate the media you're consuming, especially if it's media you enjoy:

1) the romance in this felt underdeveloped and frankly a bit forced. the chemistry between the two characters comes out of nowhere given how their dynamic never really changes over the course of the book, and even though it was sweet I didn't really care for it because of how little relationship development there is between them. they still felt like strangers to each other (at least, from my perspective) and it seemed like the only reason they were even paired with each other is because the love interest was the only age-appropriate person within bel's proximity.

2) I had a similar issue with some of jackson's other books (namely a good girl's guide to murder since the structure of the reappearance of rachel price is more similar to that than five survive), but it felt like most of the people were giving information up way too easily. I know bel is characterised as a persistent, "doesn't take no for an answer" type of person, but the way people were giving her the information she needed almost instantaneously without bel having to put up much of a fight felt extremely unrealistic to me. I get it, it's fiction, it's ya, it's meant to be unrealistic, but it still bothered me.

regardless, this book did not disappoint and holly jackson remains an instant-read author for me!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body shaming, Dementia, Pregnancy, and Alcohol