Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

49 reviews

blacksphinx's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I loved this story. Gabino Iglesias is an incredible writer, who could take an awful person like Mario and still make him a compelling protagonist. When given an opportunity to help pay off some of his child's medical debt by shooting a man in the back of the head, he doesn't hesitate for long and finds he enjoyed being a hit man. When later given the opportunity to rob a cartel truck and stealing their drug money for a $200,000 payout, he's all for it. But Iglesias makes you care about him, want to follow him on this heist.

There's some great stuff in this book. The discussions of religion are so real, so refreshing, and it's not even my culture and religion! The way characters dipped into and out of Spanish felt real, as someone who lives in an area with a high Mexican population. There amount of swearing in this novel is perfect, it always felt like actual people talking to each other. The supernatural horrors are just as bad as the things humans do to each other. One of the few things that I didn't like is that Mario spends a large portion of the book inside his own head, and all he can think about are his child and his wife and how he failed them in the same ways and it got repetitive, but I could live with that.

And then we get to that fucking ending. I hate it.

This entire book is a "shoot the shaggy dog" story and it made me feel like I had wasted 10 hours of my time.

This is a wonderful and beloved book for someone, but it is extremely not for me. 

Also, we are not messing around with the "murder", "gore", and "violence" tags. Consider this to be a Dead Dove Don't Eat warning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cancer, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death, Misogyny, Transphobia, and Deportation

aaafton's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Torture

zenzi2read's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

This is more of a crime thriller than a future novel. It’s dark and Cornac Maccarthy-esque. The mission feels doomed from the start, so this it’s more about the journey. Loss redemption the nature of sin/evil

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Torture

Minor: Transphobia

shiftycow1313's review against another edition

I knew based on the description that this book was going to be dark, but it is DARK DARK DARK. I'll try to pick it up again someday when my head is in a better space.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

murder_unicorn's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Classism

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

haiwie's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Racism and Suicidal thoughts

thewellbitch's review against another edition

dark 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

 3 stars - This was a wild ride. I purchased it because I had seen it recommended in horror book lists, but it started out as some narco/crime novel so I was disappointed. But then we get bits of horror and I was like whoa. Some parts were very good (and disturbing), but having lived in cities where cartel violence is/was rampant I really do not enjoy it as the central part of books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, and Drug abuse

gkweav615's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Terminal illness, Torture, and Vomit

amandadelbrocco's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

 Maybe not my genre but I really did not enjoy this. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

cassiecollins's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This had a really interesting rhythm to it, where we'd go from scenes of relative mundanity to hyper-stylized violence and back again. It worked to lull you into some sense of security, humanizing the deep sorrow so many of the characters face, before striking you with the depths of cruelty even the most good-intentioned people can fall to. I will say, Mario's grief over Anita and Melisa, while completely understandable, became far too repetitious for my tastes. It blocked out other opportunities for other character-building, such as strengthening my belief in his and Brian's friendship leading to the ending. Just as well, I found Juanca a much more engaging character. It almost felt like the book was way more about him than Mario, who was just along for the ride, and I think that's what made the ending feel so abrupt to me. Overall, though, the writing was solid and the characterizations were on point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Racism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs and Murder