Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

58 reviews

blau_elmo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

When it comes to thrillers, this book is pretty fantastic. The plot itself is extremely enthralling, a premise built to hold infinite possibilities.

The horrors and hopes, suffering and torment that the protagonist endures for the sake of love is heart-wrenching at times, but always it feels deserved, seeing how well he treats her throughout the book.

When the grand twist happened two thirds into the book, I was legitimately shocked at how seamlessly Crouch introduces something that should have been so obvious into the mix. The ending also brought forth many points of consideration, like

which version of him deserves his wife? Given that they are almost all fundamentally the same, isn't it sort of messed up that the rest have to live without her?

A thriller that uses psychological horror and creates a poignant but hopeful ending? Absolutely riveting.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, and Violence

sarzwhit's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

What would you do if you were forced out of your own reality and thrown into several other realities of paths you had not taken (or were simply lucky to avoid based on other decisions in your life)...all the while several alternate versions of yourselves were experiencing the same thing? Could you get back to your original life? And what if several other versions of you believed that life belonged to them?
A mind-bending, gripping journey that had me hooked. I couldn't wait to see how it was going to end but I also didn't want it to!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Kidnapping, Stalking, Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Drug use, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Apart from the kidnapping that occurs that kicks off the major plot of this story, most of these triggers are either briefly mentioned or the protagonist sees the aftermath of what he has assumed to these people. Most of the time does not go into great detail apart from acknowledgement they look to have suffered/are suffering. Most graphic comes near the conclusion, during an alternate universe where there is a pandemic - the effects of the disease go into a little more detail, and some of the injuries one or 2 of these alternate Jason's have suffered.

fkshg8465's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Rounding up to five. This is the third of hood books I’ve read, and each one hits the sweet spot for me. I love this author’s mind. The way he writes opens up my mind. I’m going to read every one of his books between this year and next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death, Grief, Abandonment, Rape, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, and Sexual content

isacarvalho91's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, Violence, Car accident, Confinement, Grief, and Kidnapping

meat_muffin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Stalking, Confinement, Cursing, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, and Grief

Minor: Child death, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

laurenbaggy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Pregnancy

bookhead420's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Drug use

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.25

I don’t think thrillers are really for me. Or multiverse/alternate universe stories. On top of that, the characters in this book were not compelling, and their bonds to each other seemed tenuous at best. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Gore, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Child death, and Drug use

Minor: Death of parent, Infidelity, and Forced institutionalization

eatingbrains's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.75

The good:  I enjoyed the UberChat.  I felt that right when that was introduced a different ending could have spawned that turned into a lighthearted rom-com and I like to imagine that.

The bad:  I knew pretty early on that this was not going to be a favorite.  I don't read a lot of thrillers in general but I enjoy sci-fi so I figured I would give it a shot.  I couldn't stand the main character.  And thus, the book was doomed in my eyes.  The pacing was jumpy, and the plot was predictable (as in, I guessed what really happened in the first chapter and the main character didn't figure it out until the ~50% mark).  There was some promise for some thoughtful introspection but the approach was heavy-handed at best.  Some of the descriptions were vivid and others were flat out whacky.

I don't know if I will try another book by the author, but I don't think I was the intended audience for this work so who knows what the future holds.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Torture, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Self harm, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

rosegoldteacher's review against another edition

The beginning was a little violent for my taste, but not too egregious.

I was okay with the general premise of an alternate reality shift. Overall, I just don't want to read a story about how your life can be better if you have kids.

That's super depressing to me, especially right now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Abortion, Kidnapping, and Child death