Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

17 reviews

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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

4.0

The narrative and mysteries were very engaging once it got going. The nature of online interactions in relation to popular pieces of media is fertile ground for storytelling. That said, the in game chats were a bit of a slog when broken up into 2-3 conversations happening near simultaneous. Yes, I didn’t mind flipping back and forth on pages but it took some adjusting. The characterizations are all really good. Seeing how all these different types of personalities could be prone to certain types of toxic online behavior was entertaining. I will say that one of the storylines is a bit hard to get by given it specifically involves kids. The side cases were good for highlighting the different contractors personalities. I liked that the entire main case was largely about people being manipulated by someone charismatic online. That all said, the book is lengthy and it could have been tightened up 200-300 pages or at least some of the game chat chapters could have been combined or tightened. 

Overall, I enjoyed it. Another good book in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

See all the triggers for the types of grotesque things discussed and done to characters because of the online and in real life sketchiness of people associated with the cases and to a degree with people in the characters’ lives

maggies's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Another 4-star Cormoran Strike mystery for me! As usual, the mystery is a thickly woven web, incorporating pretty grotesque crimes. Definitely a page-turner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

sauvageloup's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

firstly Rowling has shit political views. we all know this. I do feel bad reading this but I got it from the library and shes getting no profit from me. unfortunately shes a good writer.

pros:
- very gripping, couldn't put down
- characters were interesting and complex overall 
- did a convincing job of showing online spaces

cons:
- the sheer pettiness underlying lots of her comments is a lot. the whole plotline is narcissistic. I get the point shes trying to make (toxic online spaces driving innocent creators to misery. bad ppl hiding building up gullible fans with claims of creator's being homophobic/racist/ableist, etc. ppl being blinded by this that they miss true predators, sexists and racists) but it misses all the joy of online friends, and generally reads like shes bitter about the criticism.
- she also misses the very real need for criticism. she mocks "SJWs" but her own views could be called that by some alt right. she's determined to see that fans are acting as a mob with no critical thinking skills, where I think shes blinded by confirmation bias and her ego and lacks the ability to be compassionate and tolerant. anyway. her views are made very clear in the book and it feels petty.
- underwhelming ending, not helped by me thinking for some reason that this one the last one. was disappointed.
- its dragged too long now. think this should've been last one for sure.

overall, disappointing and frustrating, because it was good up until a sour end, much like her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kathrynamonett's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

romonko's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

Perhaps it is my age, or perhaps it's my total indifference to social media and all its iterations like Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, instagram, but I truly did not get really into this book like I usually do with this series.  The mystery was a good one, and it finally did get really exciting at the end.  And that is another of the things that caused me to shake my head - the sheer length of the book!   1,300 odd pages is a lot of book!  The writing is superb as well, but I did find some of the dialogues and transcripts of Twitter feeds and internet chats far too graphic for my tastes.  I was extremely uncomfortable through about 30% of the book, but the other 70% held me enthralled.  There is no doubt that Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling) is a very skilled and talented author, and her characterizations are incredible.  In this book Corm and Robin's detective agency are run off their feet with business.  Then along comes a visitor that Robin meets. A young Gothic woman who has a very strange tale to tell about her on-line cartoon called The Ink Black Heart and the on-line abuse that she is receiving..  Robin is intrigued but knows that they're too busy to take on this case.  Then Robin hears that the young woman is killed  and her boyfriend was stabbed in the very graveyard on which her story is based.  So Corm, Robin and their three contract detectives are on the tail of a particularly odious killer.  At much risk to Comoran and Robin and to their business they continue on the quest to find a killer who uses the internet as his/her hunting ground.  This is a particularly horrifying book, and probably realistically illustrates the danger of on-line relationships and influences. And it reminds parents that they must be particularly vigilant in monitoring their offspring's on-line footprint.  Rowling has shown us in this book what a truly scary world we live in now. Although I did not like the format and the pages and pages of internet-speak, I still enjoyed the story, and I love Comoran and Robin and will eagerly awake the next instalment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

druknduck's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

mypatronusisajedi's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Minor: Cancer, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, and Pregnancy