Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

11 reviews

preciouslittleingenue's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

4.5

SUCH a compelling, captivating read. It was actually very cool to read this kind of mystery after finishing Meddling Kids, because though they’re both mystery, they are VASTLY different. And yet, I giggled nearly as much reading both. This is a DARK story. Lots of death. Including

Spoiler

child death.

Yet the author is so clever in how chooses to use the meta narrative, how he addresses his audience, and how he delivers information that it’s impossible not to giggle. Not to mention some of the dialogue was KILLING me (no pun intended). Like, I went from feeling sick to my stomach when

Spoiler

Ernie found Michael and absolutely lost it, the poor baby,

to LAUGHING not a minute later because the author had a character crack a joke about the death that JUST HAPPENED. Insane. How does he do that??

And the mystery itself! It truly just kept me guessing. The title obviously immediately makes one curious, and you spend the whole book wondering under what circumstances EVERYONE killed someone. And each reveal had me going either “OHHHHHH DUH” or “*gasp* oh my god”. Seriously, the reveal that Audrey killed

Spoiler

Jeremy by LOCKING HIM IN A CAR IN THE SUMMER ON TOP OF A PARKING GARAGE seriously made me feel so ill. But then!!! As soon as they revealed he was kidnapped after all, I KNEW HE WAS ALIVE! But I did NOT see it coming that he was in the cop all along! That was awesome!

 

And every little thing was important, as Ernie said it would be. I don’t know why I didn’t believe him right away when he said every little detail would matter but I should have! Also, I knew I didn’t trust

Spoiler

poor Rebecca’s parents…what a motherfucker her father is.

ANYWAY, just heard this will be a series and I CANT WAIT FOR MORE. Only reason it’s not a full 5/5 is just because I’m a little slow and a lot of the final explanations I kind of just went “well, okay, yes I guess that’s what happened” because I forgot/couldn’t follow wtf he was talking about lol. Also, I went from “oh another story where everyone is a horrible, irredeemable person, and I just get to wait and see who the worst of them all is” to “wow…I…actually feel very sorry for these people and I’m kind of sad so many of them died.” THAT is impressive. I am very difficult to sway on how I feel about people. Even fictional ones. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Child abuse, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Drug use and Drug abuse

nightingale25's review against another edition

challenging dark funny informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Suicide, Murder, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Addiction, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Medical content, Grief, Child death, Mental illness, and Torture

imo_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

Overall an entertaining read, full of tension and suspense, complex characters, and a twisting plot.

Plus points for: the original, entertaining and witty narrative voice; the meta-ness of it all (this is supposedly the book the protagonist wrote about the events that happened to him, a trope I love); the complexity of the characters that was slowly revealed over the book; and the excellent shock factor of many of the reveals and killings, which was very well handled.

Minus points for: it was just a little too grisly for my taste (the killer’s method is slow and drawn out); a little convoluted in places, like the author could feel the plot getting away from him a bit; and a somewhat weak killer’s motive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Suicide, Police brutality, and Infidelity

Minor: Infertility, Vomit, Child abuse, and Car accident

mainjane's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Child death

Minor: Emotional abuse and Child abuse

75ayla's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

3.5

Spoiler

More like 3.5/5. But I always round up if I like how the author wrote the story line.

I very much enjoyed the satirical way the author wrote this. You won’t guess the twist at end in a way I’m not sure felt entirely satisfying but in a way that gave a very dramatic ending. 

I would say if you’re looking for a comical take on a thriller this is probably the way for you to so.

That being said check your trigger warnings before you get started, especially is child death is on that list for you. Not positive if this would be considered a big spoiler so I marked it just to be safe.

Spoiler

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Torture, Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Infidelity, Murder, Body horror, Death, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Blood

jodar's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

There’s more to this novel than the Aussie blokish black humour it looks in danger of being at the start. There’s a strong element of metafiction: the narrator outlines the crime-novel rules he promises to follow, he explains at various points how he is adhering to the rules and he addresses the reader along the way with his conjectures in ‘narrative time’.

I felt the plot bogged down a bit about three quarters of the way through, but after that the tempo picked up again. A nice twist at the end that I didn’t spot, though I don’t read heaps of mystery fiction and I imagine that afficionados of the genre may well see it coming.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Torture

Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Suicide, and Abandonment

cc_shelflove's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-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

2.5

Hmmm. Ummmm… well, that was weird. This was not a quick read for me at all. It started off well, but the story became increasingly outlandish by the page. The *thrilling* aspects were missing and I didn’t find myself racing to turn the pages. Were there even any twists in this book? The format was extremely clever—the author promises to tell no lies and reveal clues clearly and succinctly—but the story itself just didn’t suck me in. The many characters, names, and intertwining events were distracting rather than enhancing. I will still check out the upcoming HBO series, but meh. I can’t help but compare this book to Daisy Darker, and I really didn’t like that one either. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Child abuse, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Grief, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Minor: Confinement

toffishay's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I had a lot of fun reading this. It's very meta in a way that was engaging and put me in the mindset of like Clue the movie in a weird way. It does a great job of grabbing you right away and introducing our cast of characters in a way that is natural and engaging. The plot took some turns that I wasn't expected and honestly got a little heavier than I thought it would. Some of the plot points didn't work as well for me and things do get really crazy at the end in way that kind of lost me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Torture, Death of parent, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Infidelity

Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Medical content, Gaslighting, Drug use, Car accident, Alcohol, Addiction, and Confinement

kmsander4's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book. The writing style is so different and - dare I say - weird as hell, and I absolutely ate it up.

As a lover of mystery and crime novels, you get used to the norms of these books - the same ones Ern lays our for us before the story even begins. You know what's coming next because you know the formula. But this one turns a lot of that on its head.

It isn't like the story is filled with supernatural twists and surprise twin brothers, it's just that your narrator is outright telling you that they're reliable and that makes you even more suspicious. Before you even start the story, you know which pages feature deaths, and yet you can't trust it. Even before that, you know the title and yet...you can't piece together how all of it makes sense until the very last page.

I'm sure there are some readers that will find the dark humour and breaking of the fourth wall distracting, but I found it incredibly refreshing! This is a brand new take on detective fiction that I would return to over and over again.

Have already started recommending this one and will continue for the foreseeable future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Drug abuse

Minor: Vomit, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Suicide, and Medical content

theninth's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Blood, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Child death, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Addiction, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Suicide, Police brutality, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Murder, Medical trauma, and Panic attacks/disorders