Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Snare

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Snare by Lilja Sigurðardóttir

7 reviews

pencilspeaker's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

abbie_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense medium-paced

2.5

I’m making a fun challenge for myself where all the books I read for the StoryGraph’d 2024 Genre Challenge have to also be queer 🌈 So I found this one for ‘a crime or thriller novel in translation’. Snare follows Sonja, a newly single woman fighting for custody of her son while being entangled in a drug smuggling operation, plus a messy affair with a woman who is in denial about her sexuality.

If I can just talk about Agla for a minute - I was in the closet as a lesbian until I was 26 (though out as ‘bisexual’ before then) so I get the denial. Being out can be hard. But Agla is so deep in denial it was painful - and I couldn’t help but wonder why Sonja continued to put up with it. It must be so difficult to be with someone who clearly loves you, yet refuses to acknowledge a core part of herself.

Onto the drugs and smuggling and the like - this part did keep me guessing until a giant clue near the end and I was actually able to sort of work out who the kingpin was! I *mostly* enjoyed Sonja’s methods for smuggling

until she poisoned two sniffer dogs. That was awful.

I know she was pushed to the edge but I really had a bad taste in my mouth after that. It also felt a bit iffy that the only characters of colour that appear in the story are all drug dealers.

Probably the most compelling part of this book was Bragi’s storyline! A customs officer being pushed out of work due to his age, he’s desperate for a way to help his wife who has been placed in a subpar care-home due to severe dementia. Finding out what happens to those two would be my main motivation to pick up the sequel.

The narrator, Suzannah Hampton, does a decent job, but I do wish publishers would make an effort to find narrators who at least speak the language a book was translated from, if not someone from that country altogether. Can’t help but think the Icelandic names were often butchered.

Overall, I probably won’t be in a hurry to continue with the series, if I do at all.

Content Warnings

tlaynejones's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.5

Content Warnings

5teverin0's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

This was a quick, but engrossing read that kept me guessing until the end. The characters are mostly sympathetic, but not without flaws, and the plot is fast-paced.

Content Warnings

thalia_r's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

Not my usual genre, but an enjoyable read with some solid twists and foreshadowing that did leave me wanting to read the next book to see where Sonja's story goes.

Content Warnings

readingwithkt's review

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

Content Warnings

glains's review

Go to review page

tense medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Content Warnings

More...