meeklovestoread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
If I'm being honest this book wasn't what I thought it was going to be at all. It was one of the thrillers that everyone was talking about because of the crazy twist so I went in blind having no idea what the storyline was or any inclination on what the book was about. Going into it I was completely caught off guard. By going based on the title online I thought it was going to be some high school mean girl revenge story which had me super excited because I have yet to find a thriller that incorporates the horrors of mean-girl culture correctly. I was so excited to read this that I put it above all my books on my tbr. I guess jokes on me for being so overzealous and not just reading the synopsis.
After I realized it wasn't going to be the mean girls' thriller that I hoped it would be I still continued to read it because the missing girl premises still compelled me. I kid you not I did fall asleep a couple of times and as I was reading. I was just feeling very disinterested. Nothing shocking was really happening. I felt like the pacing was pretty slow, but I was already a good chunk in so I figured I'd finished because it was intriguing enough to where I still wanted to keep reading. I have to say this book was pretty gory and grotesque. I'm not really sensitive to stuff like that, but even I found myself wincing and closing my eyes while reading the gory details of what happened to those missing girls.
I have to say the "big twist" sort of slipped me by.
Spoiler
I thought we already knew Paul was behind all the snuff porn. His dad being the one who kidnapped Julia felt very anti-climatic to me because we rarely got any insight into Paul's family at all. To me, he could've been any other masked man and it wouldn't have made any difference. Or was it Paul the one that did those unspeakable things to Julia when he was only a teen boy? I'm still a little unclear as to what happened. Also, I think the author should've added more emphasis on why Paul chose to continue and participate in the "family business". For me, I think the biggest mind-boggling and heartbreaking moment of the book was Claire realizing that Paul was putting on a persona for her the entire time they were together. That was the scary part for me because how could she ever trust another man again? Everything Paul did was so meticulous and calculated which begs the question of how could one see the difference between the mask and the actual genuine person.The twist was good, scary even, but it just didn't hit for me.
Graphic: Medical content, Torture, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Rape, Blood, Confinement, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Suicide, Addiction, Death of parent, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Injury/injury detail
Minor: Drug abuse, Bullying, Body shaming, Drug use, Fatphobia, and Vomit
uhhlexiconic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Confinement, Torture, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Addiction, Rape, Sexual assault, and Stalking
Moderate: Child death and Suicide
thebookesquire's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Suicide, Child abuse, Death of parent, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Rape, Kidnapping, Torture, Gun violence, and Infidelity
Minor: Drug use and Addiction
support_lesbian's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
I will say that the content described in this guess is very upsetting but I guess its as graphic as it needed to be based on the subject matter for the book but I really can't say for sure right now. I am quite satisfied with the conclusion this book went in as a mystery thriller novel because it like, actually commits to what makes sense and didn't back out of the story it was telling, upsetting narrative aside.
Beginning and ending chapters could have been stronger and there was definitely moments where the writing of the book made me raise my eyebrow in a skeptical way because of how unnecessary it was to me and like with all of these books it uses the scapegoat mental illness diagnosis to explain away character motivations when really they're just horrible scumbags that always leaves a bad taste.
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Violence
sarahjanehayes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Rape, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Body horror, Gaslighting, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
syd11's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Injury/injury detail, Body horror, Gun violence, Stalking, Suicide, Murder, Kidnapping, Death, Blood, Rape, Torture, Grief, and Emotional abuse
baileymorrison's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
Graphic: Stalking, Torture, Physical abuse, Addiction, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/injury detail, Child death, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Violence, Gun violence, Gore, Emotional abuse, Body horror, and Blood
donielletonese's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Suicide, Stalking, Rape, Murder, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Torture
swetharao's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Suicide, and Violence
brehexual's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Torture, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Death, Stalking, Suicide, Trafficking, Gore, Body shaming, Confinement, Child death, Body horror, and Blood