Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

95 reviews

boredarchivist's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

5.0

Karin Slaughter has such a talent for grabbing the reader's attention. To say that this books packs a punch is an understatement. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny

rene_reads02's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

I feel like this is the best thriller I’ve read in a while. Like a thriller that actually had twists and turns. This would make a great movie! A times the main character made me mad, but it was forgivable. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

plantsandpints'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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, Suicide, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

emilymaer's review against another edition

dark 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

mjewell1's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

bookwormmomma91's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

Overly dark gruesome details of SA

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

lampbee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

I can’t tell if i loved or hated this book. It’s very violent in its depictions, at some point it felt needless or even voyeuristic? I didn’t like that element of it especially given the whole plot of the book. The premise I feel was solid and I liked the execution it was just a lot more grim with a lot less payoff than I expected. However I liked the development and the twists not being predictable/trite.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

The description of Lydia getting

waterboarded with paul’s piss

was a bit intense to the point of me not being sure what the purpose was. Obviously to show

that Paul is evil/irredeemable and is willing to sexually abuse Claire’s sister

but it felt gratuitous. The same I feel could be said for the description of the photos

I understand that gore was required to get their heinous crimes across but the description of the mutilated and cleaved girl hanging from barn rafters while blood-soaked and fully erect men posed for a photo was a lot to take in and I wonder how much detail was required to get the point across

. Maybe I just prefer for rape culture to be referenced or described on a more nuanced level and something of this level wasn’t going to hit — but at very least there can be no debate over whether the crime was “all that bad”. I will say though, I’m probably not the only one, by the end of the book

I was hoping Paul would have to endure some of the torture he doled out. He kept Julia alive for two weeks, I would’ve liked to see him have to endure something of that caliber not a strained but quick death in a forest.

I’m very uninterested in women not stooping to their attackers level , they need to get even, idc.

alexisroyce's review against another edition

1.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

seekinglucidity's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicide, Police brutality, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

taitestrasner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

i really don’t know how to feel. SUCH a page turner, it was so hard for me to put this down, & when i did, i couldn’t stop thinking about it. my faults with this book, though, are that i feel like it was too gruesome. i feel like 50+ pages of disgusting, gory details could’ve been left out and we still would have gotten the same story. it was a LOT and personally a heavy read for me. i LOVE crime/mystery/murder books, but at some points this was a really hard read for me. other than that, i loved the story! so insane, some of the plot twists had be audibly screaming through out the whole chapter. if you can handle gore, this is definitely for you!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Alcohol