Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

True Crime Story by Joseph Knox

13 reviews

lesemaresi's review

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Loved it. Loved the concept of the book and how it was written/ how the author incorporated himself into the book. Felt like a true crime documentary. I was an Easy and fast read. I couldn’t stop ready because there were So many turns of event but that also made it  a bit exhausting/confusing and hard to keep up with everything.

Spoiler

Unsure about the conclusion/ending… and how reliable the author really is

Spoiler

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Mental illness, Infidelity, Grief, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Drug use, Drug abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Abandonment, and Violence

themomwithabook's review against another edition

mysterious 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

Review of True Crime Story by Joseph Knox: 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 

 

On December 17, 2011, Manchester University student Zoe Nolan, walked out of a party and was never seen again.  Seven years later, author Evelyn Mitchell begins interviewing those closest to Zoe.  The interviews highlight some of the inconsistencies in everyones stories but also shed light on a secret life and a side of Zoe that not everyone knew.  To help parse out her story, Evelyn reaches out to true crime writer Joseph Knox, in the hopes that he can help her make sense of all the material she has gathered and try to solve Zoe’s mysterious disappearance once and for all. 

 

Ok first of all - if you’re going to read this book I suggest listening to it.  It’s an unconventional narrative that worked and what an experience it was!  Each character has a different narrator so that, mixed with the overlapping and contradicting interviews, make it feel like you’re listening to a podcast.  The author even inserted himself into the actual story which had me questioning everything and it’s that right there, that was the true ingenuity of it all.  I spent far too much time going down a rabbit hole that led to nowhere because Zoe Nolan doesn’t actually exist yet the book feels like she did.  I’m still not entirely convinced that she doesn’t exist - that’s how authentic this book felt.  Knox created a complex thriller that blends fact and fiction and tossed in a slew of suspicious, unreliable (and unlikeable) characters - I truly did not see the twist coming in the end.  I was so absorbed in the story and so caught up with the realness of it all that I just couldn’t put it down; couldn’t even flesh out fact and fiction - that’s what’s most wild to me! 

 

Albeit late in my review, thanks to @LibroFM [#partner] for gifting me with an advanced listeners copy!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Kidnapping

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

rachelizx's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Drug use, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Self harm, Murder, Death, Stalking, Physical abuse, and Grief

madimairee's review

dark mysterious slow-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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Cursing

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Suicide attempt

mysterymom46's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Spoiler

person is urinated on by multiple people

milliep's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Spoiler

I really enjoyed this book! I think some parts werent necessarily believable, but I enjoyed the novelty of its format and the twists and turns. Great idea and well executed - did find it strange that there was no disclaimer saying the story wasnt actually true though haha

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

amichreads's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

novabooks's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

tabby2920's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.75

Thank you Sourcebooks for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Self harm, and Sexual harassment