Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Retreat: A Novel by Sarah Pearse

7 reviews

sophieamreacher's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0

Good atmosphere, didn’t guess the twist, rooted for main character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gun violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Classism, Child death, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, Stalking, Mental illness, Medical content, Gore, Vomit, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Death, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Body horror, Death of parent, and Cursing

sprout_monster's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• 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

Solid read, but probably not anyone's 5 star. It's pretty fast paced and I liked the main characters and the island was very interesting.
The faults I had with it are minor. The conflict between Elin and Will didn't seem logical, seemed more like a worried brother, but it's played off like it was logical.

It makes sense to put off something that doesn't seem urgent for like literally 5 minutes. Elin was not just ignoring it, she was prioritizing a quick crucial phone call and then was gonna talk to Farrah! That's totally reasonable! Also this conflict was cliche.

I don't get why Hana doesn't disown Jo, like after everything, why would she still consider Jo her sister? I just can't relate. And the end character realizes something about herself and grows was meh, it kind of worked but kind of didn't. I do think that there were randomly too many people at the initial crime scene investigation and that was confusing, like it probably would've been better to use people's job titles rather than their names for the characters that popped up for only 5 seconds, and I couldn't quite remember the bf gf pairs, and there could've been a bit more character development, but I got the jist.

Anyway, I'd say it's worth a read if you're looking for an action-y, mystery book.

The very last ending was pretty satisfying, and wrapped up everything previously hinted at. 
The book had a lot of little hints that I think are too minor to be super predictable but enough for the ohh at the end.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Child abuse and Infidelity

alisonannk's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, and Confinement

bekah1210's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Violence, Gun violence, and Confinement

Minor: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Stalking

typedtruths's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Abandonment, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

➸ Trigger warnings for parental abandonment recounted, infidelity mentioned, panic attacks (on-page), alcohol consumption, depiction of dead bodies, grief and loss depiction, death of a brother from drowning mentioned, murder and attempted murder, death of a boyfriend recounted, death from a fall, physical assault, kidnapping, incarceration mentioned, and housefire recounted in which the protagonist's cousin sustained severe burns which caused a stroke and permanent brain damage.

ashleyvharris's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

1.5

Not super compelling. Didn’t hold my interest. Forgettable characters. Literally cannot remember their names as I write this. Connection between the guests and the island’s past seemed flimsy at best. Setting felt a bit out of place. Felt a bit like The Chestnut Man but not as suspenseful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship

paronomaniac's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Really, this book is wash-rinse-repeat of her first book, The Sanatorium, and not much better.  And you could skip the whole climax because the killer is revealed bright before the big ending and it’s not like anything too terrible will happen to the protagonist. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Infidelity