Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

52 reviews

snoopyfanclub's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Infertility

probably_confused's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Emotional abuse

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Isabelle's son goes missing and she will stop at nothing until she finds him. 

This one pulled me right. We follow Isabelle, an mother whose son is missing, she is grieving, suffering from PTSD, and barely sleeping. She is the definition of an unreliable narrator, yet you want to believe her. We are steeped in her grief and paranoia. You are right with her the entire time picking apart the pieces and trying to make sense of it all. 

There are definitely a few red herrings along the way. Did she do something to him while sleep walking? Was it her narcissistic husband? Is Whalen the guilty one? Was it the creepy man down the street? What are the cops hiding? 

We find out that when she was younger, Isabelle had a history of sleep walking. One night her sister died in the marshes behind the house.

We are lead to think that  Isabelle lead her to her death and that she killed her son while sleep walking. Then we find out that it was actually her mother, suffering from severe PPD who was guilty. She has planned to kill herself and her 2 daughters, but only the one daughter died.

The whole time I thought it was the husband.

He is obviously a narcissist, possibly sociopath who is manipulative, controlling, and gaslights everyone. He is always on the hunt for a younger version of his wife. His first wife died of suicide while pregnant and then his son with his second wife goes missing while he is in the throws of an affair with a younger model. Convenient or guilty? Well he is certainly guilty of something, but not of killing his son.

I was shocked when

it was revealed that it was the girlfriend who kidnapped her son! I was not expecting that at all. She was jealous and wanted Isabelle out of the picture, so she took the child and gave him to a woman to raise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

slsmith1013's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

tatyana_t's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Mental illness

colorcrystals's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Infertility, Violence, and Suicide attempt

princess_marie'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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Child death and Emotional abuse

Minor: Drug use, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

chocolateturtle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

melissa_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is my second read 📚 from this author.  I really enjoyed it! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

bananaclubster's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Emotional abuse