Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

10 reviews

librarianlirael's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Murder, Medical content, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Addiction, and Cancer

calicat42's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

The structure was creative—a fun twist on the who dunnit genre.  At the start of the book, there’s no real information about what has happened, so instead of knowing what will happen and watching the characters figure it out, the reader only gets to know as much as the characters. Hard to put a book like that down! 

Although I fell in love with the structure, the content left me wanting a little. There were times where the plot moved quickly because the twists and turns were coming in every line. Yet there were times where I wished I could have read in x2 speed to move things along. I think this just comes to my preferences regarding mysteries; I don’t want to take my foot off the gas once the plot picks up! 

Overall, I enjoyed the read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Stalking, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: War

tpasta's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape, Violence, and War

toofondofbooks_'s review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I can't say too much about this book plot-wise because honestly I feel like you're better off going into it a bit blind the way that I did. However, of course, there's a synopsis available if you do wanna read it, I can't tell you what to do. I'm the boss of me, not you.

What I can tell you is that this is a murder mystery wherein you are provided texts, emails, and other bits of evidence for the case and are basically meant to solve it alongside the two young lawyers, Femi and Charlotte. I loved how this book was written *so* much. I'm nosey, so I loved the feel of reading people's emails and snooping around their shit. Plus, I really enjoyed actively trying to solve the mystery. I broke my tabs out, I got out my pen and my journal, and got to work. I simply had the best time. I can't BELIEVE that this is a debut novel. This author is a total auto-buy for me from here on out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Murder, Medical content, Mental illness, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Body horror, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Misogyny, Stalking, Excrement, Rape, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Vomit

toomanytbr's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Cancer, and Child abuse

odrib's review

challenging funny mysterious medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Cancer, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Stalking

Moderate: Bullying, Murder, Death, and Medical content

Minor: Infidelity, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Infertility, Addiction, Child death, and Excrement

paperknotbooks's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a lot of fun to explore. I was calling this book my “bathroom read,” since the text is broken up into emails and text messages. Very entertaining if you are seeking something engaging. 

My only gripe is that you know from the cover there is a murder, but that doesn’t come to term until 60-70% point of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Bullying, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Murder

ktdakotareads's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

liviy0017's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Cancer, Murder, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Mental illness, Suicide, Stalking, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Medical content

charliebriggs96's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book doesn’t really have quotes per say because it’s all emails and text messages, so…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Wow, what a whopper of a crime book done well. Beyond ‘well’ in fact, it was exceptionally written. This is something I have not seen in a modern crime book before, and I have read quite a few. No real in face dialogue, there is only emails, texts and documents. It was so refreshing to read, and definitely kept me guessing until the very end. Honestly probably my new top 5 read of 2021. So so so good, go read it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug abuse