Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

38 reviews

httpscl0d4gh's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing

gyroshrike's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Pedophilia and Pandemic/Epidemic

It's not enacted by the characters themselves, but there is deep antisemitism and anti Romani stereotypes embedded in the depictions of the antagonists. I wouldn't be surprised if the author didn't consciously or intentionally put it there, but wow it is THERE. Heavy spoilers, but nothing for the ending:

The villains have a history of being nomadic and "travelling in caravans and on camels" back in Europe, they kidnap and essentially devour children, referred to as monsters or inhuman, they are rich and have centuries of wealth stashed away. They are in the police force and even in politics if I remember correctly, in a way that allows them to evade persecution from the law.

All of these are very old and well documented stereotypes. Combine this with them spending much of the story

pursing blonde haired, blue eyed characters and you have a very unfortunate depiction of the classic "scary Jew tries to steal and eat the blonde, white/Christian child"

motifs in your story.

pixelpigeon's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really fun sequel to The Shining! If you liked that book I do recommend this one.

Stephen King does have a weird fixation on describing his female characters boobs though and it makes me uncomfortable every time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Sexism, Grief, and Death of parent

_marycappiello3's review

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

lecheeese's review

dark hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Body shaming, Gun violence, and Pedophilia

mainereading's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I was nervous about there being a sequel to The Shining, considering it's been so long since it came out. I worried it wouldn't do the first book justice, but I had no reason to be nervous because it ended up being an excellent sequel! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Alcohol

amy123456789's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Torture, and Murder

ee_comins's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

chapters_and_pages's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I was hesitant going into this book because a lot of the time sequels written years later aren’t the best, but I loved this book! I think I actually preferred it to The Shining (which I think I’d now change to 4⭐️). 

Doctor Sleep follows Dan Torrance, all grown up from The Shining, and Abra Stone, a young girl with the most powerful shining Dan has ever seen. While Dan is battling his own demons, he must help Abra evade the True Knot, a near-immortal group killing children with abilities just like Abra. 

I loved this book! Abra was without a doubt my favourite character of the book, I loved her so much. Her relationship with Dan was so sweet, as well. 

The ending of this book was also really good in my opinion! I won’t spoil it, but I really liked it. 

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised to how this sequel lived up to its predecessor. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Torture, Kidnapping, and Murder

travisppe's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

King relies on some well worn tropes (and they don’t always land) but he knows how to tell a compelling story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol