Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

23 reviews

thecosylibrary's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

This was written in a really clever way. Reading the story through emails, phone call transcripts, text messages and news articles it’s a very different way to write a piece of fiction. It was brilliant to try and work out the mystery alongside the characters Femi and Charlotte.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Drug use and Violence

rebeccadiv's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I had SO MUCH FUN reading this book and I cannot wait to get to her others. It was such a cool concept and I really enjoyed the whole process. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Terminal illness

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Medical trauma

redroseses's review against another edition

dark mysterious

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Suicide

staceyinthesticks's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Addiction, Infertility, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, War, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, and Alcohol

thecozyrogue's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Infidelity, Violence, and War

Minor: Child death and Infertility

brittaanson's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This is my new favorite mystery format! Sifting through documents to identify what is significant and what isn't, what might be left unsaid, etc. is a fantastic puzzle. Super engaging, but definitely a book that you'll want to give your full attention. I listen to most books on audiobook while doing other things, but this one I saved for when I had the time and mental energy to sit down and read in paperback with notebook and post-its at the ready. Reading on an eReader would also be a good choice, for easy keyword searches when you realize later that something someone wrote a while back may be important.
The emails and texts are written brilliantly, evoking clear personalities in their different styles. It's fascinating to read the difference in tone between a character's public email to a mailing list versus what they text in private to their partner, versus what they purposefully avoid sharing, despite you knowing they have the information in question from what another character wrote to someone else. All of the communication styles are very recognizable and realistic for their characters as well. This book is masterfully constructed, and sucked me right in. I couldn't put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, Violence, and War

lollymac's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Death

Moderate: Child abuse and Violence

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Colonisation

b33dubs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

I could not put this book down. The author did an incredible job developing the characters just through how they write emails, as well as burying clues within the context of the emails (such as time stamps). The initial drama is in the interpersonal relationships, and the tension in wondering who will be murdered, how, and for what reason as you learn more about the characters and the secrets and grudges they hold. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Rape

ashley_turch's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Formatting is interesting and fun. It takes a minute to get used to but is a nice change of pace. Makes it fun to annotate and highlight, but I found myself saying often “ok people don’t actually e-mail like that.”

Personally was disappointed in the ending. It didn’t feel realistic to me. Maybe the format didn’t allow me to fully picture the characters being capable of these things —

the murder, that is. I definitely caught the other illegal things happening. 

Would have liked a closer look into Issy’s mental illness issues. Plus why did Martin treat James like such shit? Left with some questions , but maybe that’s the point?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Suicide, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility, Sexual assault, and Violence

Besides murder, most of the content is not super descriptive due to the nature of the book’s letter format. SA is discussed as something that happened in the past. Not graphic. Someone marked animal death/cruelty for this, but as someone who can never stomach that type of content, it ended up being totally fine. Calling it animal death was a stretch. (Explaining below - no major spoilers but hiding just in case)

The family dog has a foreign body obstruction surgery while being dogsat. The owner says to the sitter that if the surgery is more than $100 to just put the dog down. Messed up, yes, but doesn’t affect anyone. The surgery was paid for by a family member and the dog recovered swimmingly. He wasn’t mentioned again after this and seemed to be a happy boy from there on out.

motypeandroid's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. It’s probably the most fun I’ve had reading a book this year. It was so messy with lies and fraud and crazy people that I forgot there was going to be a murder. I really enjoyed the format this book was told in. I’d consider reading from this author again. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction and Violence

Minor: Rape