Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

No Exit by Taylor Adams

86 reviews

coco78337's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

I’ve never read a book that was truly unputdownable, but this was exactly that. Such a great read! The characters in this book were so well done and the way he writes is griping. Highly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Cursing, Incest, Vomit, Trafficking, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

melliedm's review

dark tense fast-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

An absolute page-turner that, despite its flaws, never fails to keep up the tension. Felt like exactly what I needed, super fast-paced to the point I finished it in one sitting.

I’ve seen the movie before, and even though I knew most of the twists, the text was still very worthwhile. Lots of background and perspective shifts that a movie simply can’t portray, and the movie also changes the main character into an addict, which impacts the plot thoroughly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

thatonehorse's review against another edition

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? No

3.75

Fast paced and twisty 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent

bookblonde's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

Thrilling and intense, a touch predictable at points but over all left me satisfied. Would probably give a 3.8 if I could 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Vomit, and Trafficking

Minor: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

Finished reading: February 28th 2024

"Don’t fear the pros, Darby. The pros know what they’re doing, and do it cleanly. Fear the amateurs."

I loved my first experience with Taylor Adams' work when I read The Last Word last year, and I've been meaning to dive into his backlist ever since. With No Exit fitting multiple challenges this year, I thought it was the perfect excuse to finally do so... I do love a good bout of bad weather to spice up the plot, and the premise of this thriller sounded SO good. And I have to say that it is one heck of a rollercoaster ride! Sure, it is definitely key to be able to suspend your disbelief and the plot is WAY over the top, but if you are able to sit back and enjoy the ride you are in for a wild one. I tend to love my thrillers on the high octane and dark side, but No Exit definitely goes beyond that and dips its toe in the horror genre with plenty of gruesome and gory scenes. I wouldn't recommend it if you have a weak stomach, that's for sure! That said, No Exit is basically one tense and dangerous moment after the other; the author not giving you a minute to breathe in between accute situations. I literally couldn't stop reading as I HAD to know how everything would end. The fact that the characters are trapped and Darby doesn't know who to trust only adds to the suspense... I do have to say that some of her actions were beyond stupid, and this prevented me from giving it an even higher rating. The bad guy was also a bit too much for me, and his actions and attitude almost felt cartoonish in points. BUT. The whole situation was too tense to stand still by these minor niggles for long, and it's a true pageturner indeed despite the confusing ending. If you are looking for a credible plot and thorough character development, I suggest looking elsewhere... But if you are in need of a dose of high octane, twisted and intense action and just care about being entertained, No Exit should work just fine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

shirleonelsie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I'm conflicted about this book. I really enjoyed it - the plot was exciting, I was left guessing for a lot of it - but...

BUT

The use of the r-slur, n-slur and a chinese-slur (the latter used many times, as the name of a fictional location) colored this book gray for me. While they were all used by a character who - if this was a real person, probably would talk like this - there wasn't a whole lot of explanation or detracting from the other characters in the book. Granted, only the latter mentioned one was said allowed to anyone else but it still felt very shoe-horned in. Like the author took advantage of creating a character who would say these things just so he could say them. And that feels smarmy. 

If it wasn't for those, I honestly think I'd give them a high 4 maybe 5 star rating. If those slurs were used and there was some explanation or backlash from other characters - something that let's me know the author truly understands that the use of those words is NOT OKAY - then maybe, just maybe, I could let it slide. But that isn't how this feels.

(I use other reading apps, so you may see this again!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Use of n-slur, r-slur, and a chinese-slur

michelle_my_belle's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

This was a very fast paced, action packed thriller. It leaned a little too far into horror for my tastes and contained a lot of graphic violence. I will say, it was a very compelling story and I continued reading wanting to find out what happened, so it was definitely successful in drawing me in and building suspense. Overall, it just wasn’t really for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

Minor: Cancer

biblio_millie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

At one point last year I got so stressed reading this that I had to put it down so I’ve only just finished it. My only real gripe was that the child didn’t really read like a child. Apart from the occasional line where I was like yeah a 7 year old might say this, I kind of kept imagining her as maybe 11 or 12. Otherwise very enthralling and I really enjoyed it. Lots of possible triggers, more than I normally find in a book like this, I’m glad mine didn’t come up but I was very lucky. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

readkatieread's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

buer's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

Young college student, Darby Thorne, finds herself trapped at a rest stop on her way to say goodbye to her dying mother. After a strange series of events, Darby realizes that there is a kidnapped child in the back of one of the vehicles in the parking lot. She must figure out which of the four strangers at the rest stop is the killer and what she needs to do to save the kidnapped girl. 

I want to like this book - it’s fast-paced, easy to read, and has an overarching theme of a young woman realizing that she is a better, stronger, and more resilient person than she could have ever imagined. Taylor Adams has a simple, visceral writing style that I like and introduces several interesting twists. 

However. Much like one of the characters in this book, Adams feels like the kind of person who knows how to convincingly wear a mask. The mask he has chosen is that he’s the kind of person who believes that women are strong and capable, but considering that he sexualizes every female character in his book with varying degrees of brutality, I’m not convinced. 

I also find it difficult to enjoy a book in which the author goes out of his way to introduce prejudice into the story.  Taylor names an imaginary geographical landmark with a slur. He has a character tell multiple misogynistic jokes and a racist one that involves yet another slur. He uses the r-word and repeatedly references a probably homophobic piece of graffiti that he invented for the bathroom wall at the rest stop. 

Maybe I’m wrong about Taylor, but I can’t recommend this book in good conscience. There are too many moments that got under my skin for reasons that weren’t serving the plot or adding depth to characters.

There are plenty other books that accomplish what this book does without also reeking of ick. Read those instead. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Fatphobia, and Fire/Fire injury