Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Guest List

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

zerkleoflife's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

4.0

It took me a realllllly long time to get into. Part of it was getting used to the British writing style (I’m American and didn’t immediately understand some of the vocabulary). But you don’t find out that someone could have died until page 63, and then you don’t even find out who died until page 285. But even though it took me a month to get through the first 1/3 of the book, I finished the rest in 2 days! The author developed the characters really well, and the plot twists were phenomenal. I recommend it overall, but definitely check the content warnings before reading!!!

Content Warnings

meaghanslibrary's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Compared to the Paris Apartment, this book had a more keeping me on my toes feel. It reminded me a lot of how big little lies the tv show starts where you know there is someone who has been hurt you don’t know who and the book flashes backwards and forwards in time across different viewpoints to give you pieces of the puzzle.

Spoiler

The fact that Will was Steve, the same person the younger sister used to date and got her pregnant - that was a huge twist that I didn’t see coming! The twist was also great because it explained so much of the younger sisters actions. Compared to the big reveal in the Paris Apartment that they were all a family that didn’t make me reflect so much on the characters past actions in the book as the big twist in the guest list did. Once that big reveal happened, and I think because I just read the authors other work, I realized that other parts must be connected - for example I had a eeey feeling that Hannah’s sister dated Will who spread the horrific video. Then the rest of the pieces started to click together. I didn’t fully piece that Aoife was the main killer for her brother, I still feel like there could have been more backstory with her and the connection to the island. Her slaying came and the motivations came about very abruptly. So that knocked off points for my rating. Most of my rating is bumped up from the big sister reveal. I thought that was very clever. Also the fact that the best man was supposed to be on the show that became more obvious as a secret once the sister reveal. That’s why I liked that reveal so much it gave me a sense of what was happening but still kept me on my seat to figure out who died and who the killer was.

Content Warnings

camilleion's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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

Content Warnings

rmperash's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

The book was slow for most of it but the ending was great!

Content Warnings

spellygirl's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

A good read that made it hard to figure out who did it until the end. A lot of skipping back and forth in time. Would recommend checking trigger warnings.

Content Warnings

elatedbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

2.75

Listening to the audio version really saved this for me & meant I read it really quickly but if I’d sat down & read a physical copy I don’t think my experience would have been nearly so good.

It kinda just failed to create a spooky atmosphere & because the event they were building up to was described so vaguely I didn’t really have any impending sense of doom that this format is so clearly written for.

Not really the plot for me either :/
Bunch of posh guys reminiscing about the terrible stuff they did at boarding school? Not so great.

Content Warnings

mari_books's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.75

Really enjoyed this! Very fast paced. Every chapter is from the perspective of a cast of wedding guests/ family members, moving back and forth through the timeline as a body is found on the night of the wedding. As the book goes on the chapters get shorter and the perspectives change more wildly, kind of creating a dizzying close to the end. My only complaint is that 60% of the book is getting readers super invested in the backstories and personal traumas of the characters 20% is the actual crime, 5% is the who-dun-it and 5% is the after. I would have loved a more rounded conclusion considering how much of the time was spent investing us in mystery. Great read!

Content Warnings