Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

7 reviews

maggiejean's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Stalking, Drug use, Death, and Blood

Minor: War, Suicide, and Animal death

queersubtext's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Stalking, Body horror, Animal death, Drug use, Confinement, Blood, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Gore, Misogyny, and Medical trauma

sunnysiding's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A book centered on the victims of serial killings rather than idolizing the killer. Exciting, heart wrenching, achingly human.

Lost a star for the bizarre subplot of Dan being in love with Kirby. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Gore, Suicide, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Abortion, Sexual content, Medical content, Mental illness, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Homophobia, Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Deadnaming, Rape, and Sexual harassment

There is an entire chapter that heavily features animal injury/death:

Kirby's dog is killed, brutally, trying to protect her

. It's pretty expected for a book about serial killing but it is visceral and detailed. There are several other depictions of animal cruelty, injury, and death.

chloemakesbooks's review against another edition

mysterious medium-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

1.0

Poorly written, flat characters, and a total lack of suspense or fear- just sadness. A good editor should have seen where the real book was and refocused the story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Ableism, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Sexual content

co2lreads's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

This book was a crazy puzzle. The time travel elements were fascinating, and the characters were interesting. This book is not for the faint of heart (check the content warnings) but the descriptions of violence didn't feel gratuitous. Beukes did a great job making the other victims seem real, even in just a couple short chapters each. I do wish more time was spent on where things went wrong as Harper started making mistakes, but otherwise The Shining Girls is definitely something to read if you like thrillers.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Murder, Stalking, and Animal death

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Grief

ashley_elizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

My expectations were quite low for this considering the degree of negative reviews I've seen. Color me surprised! While the pace was on the slower side for the majority of the book, I still found the story engaging and interesting enough to keep me invested. I was tasting flavors of Joe Hill's "NOS4A2" with the House and some characteristics of both Harper and Kirby, which I mean as a compliment as I absolutely adore Joe Hill.

I found myself a bit confused by Harper and how he came to be This Person doing These Things. We get a decent bit of his history and how he came to be in the House, but it doesn't quite feel like enough. I understand from the blurb by the author that the story was meant to focus much more on the victims rather than the perpetrator, but I think I would have liked a bit more of this backstory/character development. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Drug use, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Transphobia and Homophobia

sonyareadsbooks's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Stalking, and Violence

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Abortion, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Fatphobia