Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Don't Believe It by Charlie Donlea

12 reviews

jve's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense

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

3.75

A quick, easy mystery/thriller read. It was fast-paced and had enough intrigue to keep it a page-turner, but I had already suspected the final twist before it happened.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, and Murder

melshoo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Blood, and Murder

jhasfurther's review against another edition

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

4.5

The ending is good but not very satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, and Abandonment

ecurtin222's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Dude, wtf

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

cassidy_rain's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

“To kill someone required perfection, timing, and luck. I hoped all three were with me this evening.”

This is the second book I’ve read by this author and certainly won’t be my last. This is the perfect read for true crime and crime documentary lovers.

Don’t Believe It follows Sidney; she’s a documentary maker who has a knack for making documentaries on the wrongfully accused and imprisoned. Her newest documentary is showcasing Grace, who may or may not have been wrongfully convicted of killing her boyfriend on a vacation ten years prior. Sidney is her last chance at an acquittal. 

Since Sidney makes documentaries, it switches back and forth between the actual storyline and the “documentary” that she’s developing as the story moves along. It took me a minute to get used to this writing style, but once I did I flew through this. I really liked that the story follows the documentary timeline. It’s very cool to find out info at the same time as the investigator (and world watching the documentary essentially). 

A few things felt maybe a little far fetched or left me with questions, but overall I was pretty satisfied how it all tied together. I kept switching who I thought the actual murderer was chapter by chapter, but was still left baffled and surprised. Little clues are left throughout the story to steer your mind in all directions, along with enough clues that makes the final reveal make sense and feel satisfying. I’m by no means an expert in crime scenes or autopsies, but the way he writes these scenes are super fleshed out and realistic feeling. It really did feel like watching an episode of dateline. The ending felt a little abrupt, but overall I liked it. 

Would highly recommend picking this up!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

patientlysarah's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

seagullsaga'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Slow to warm up and quite an abrupt ending. Maybe It’s just been a while since I’ve read this genre, but this book didn’t click with me until about two thirds of the way through. The whole thing is wrapped up by a quick series of twists that feels a little sudden but not out of place. When it lands though, it’s great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

rhgrimes's review against another edition

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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Car accident, and Murder

rochelleisreading's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Car accident

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic friendship

pizzajules's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder