Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith

2 reviews

lollybee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

When a book is 1180 pages long and written by an accomplished author, you know that you are in it for the long haul.
Cormoran and Robin are employed to investigate a cult, with the purpose of extricating their client's son from its clutches.
This was an excellent read: gradually building the tension towards a gripping ending.
Well worth a read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

sauvageloup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

I won't put a star rating as i don't really want to make J.K.'s book look good. But a compelling if somewhat slow read.

pros:
- the cult setting was extremely well done, very frightening and sinister and the traumatic effect on Robin and the others was obvious in their reactions. It definitely made you think about the horrors of cults.
- sadly J.K. is a talented writer and the pacing and characters are very good, with the complicated plot coming together and the characters growing throughout, to a degree.

cons 
- the plot did feel too complicated towards the end as I struggled to keep straight who certain people were, including Graves and Abigail and some others. Would probably reward a reread.
- Strike was a bit annoying in this book, as he seemed naive/careless about the torment Robin went through (which though well addressed as it was happening and immediately after, seemed to be forgotten as the plot came together at the end), his jealousy towards Murphy is tiring, and his lack of action towards Robin gets frustrating.
- J.K. is clearly also making a point about how the law hesitates to go against people for PC reasons and overly tip toeing around sensitive issues, like religious freedom and people living differently. Strike snidely says 'live and let live' to criticise the cult. I think she is doing a subtle dig here towards trans people and their rights.

but overall another compelling Robin and Strike novel, probably the one that gripped me most so far with the scary cult plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, and Alcohol

All the content warnings here, very dark.