Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

True Crime Story by Joseph Knox

12 reviews

cawilliams29's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

A mystery that turns the genre on its head! I was obsessed while reading this.

Struggling writer Evelyn Mitchell decides to write a book investigating the disappearance of 19 year old, Zoe Nolan.

Zoe is a student at Manchester University who walked out of house party never to be seen again.

This novel is told through a blend of Evelyn's interviews with Zoe's family and friends, trying to dig into what really happened and emails where Evelyn is reaching out to author Joseph Knox for advice and support after dark events begin unfolding.

A wildly unique mystery thriller. With the insert of the author within the story I did have to check this was 100% fiction, I was completely pulled into the writing style and the story itself. The reasons behind the idea of Jospeh Knox being involved in this missing girl's story was so well done.

All of these characters have secrets to hide, they are all realistic and written with nuance. I didn't see any of the wild twists coming, they were beautifully revealed. I found myself truly invested in this tense, dark story.

Joseph Knox tricked me time and time again, my mind is still reeling to catch up. This is a multi-layered story, both thematically and narratively. On one side we have an immersive, thrilling, dark mystery and at the same time alot of important, difficult themes and conversations are displayed throughout the plot.

I loved it! I will be thinking about Zoe and this crazy story for a long time. I can't wait to read more from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Cancer and Child abuse

lapuce1006's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

cozyscones's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug use, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

herelieshenry's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

1.0

What a letdown; I thought I would like this novel, especially as the execution as a faux true crime book was well done, but the ending is incredibly sloppy and ultimately relies on bigoted tropes about

gay and trans people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Transphobia, Islamophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Rape, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Drug use, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

usherfalls's review against another edition

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Fire/Fire injury

lesemaresi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Loved it. Loved the concept of the book and how it was written/ how the author incorporated himself into the book. Felt like a true crime documentary. I was an Easy and fast read. I couldn’t stop ready because there were So many turns of event but that also made it  a bit exhausting/confusing and hard to keep up with everything.

Unsure about the conclusion/ending… and how reliable the author really is

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

fairylightreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

As someone whose halls flat walls were made of one long crawlspace I'm very glad I didn't read it until 6 years after I moved out of halls

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Self harm

Minor: Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

glens's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

True Crime Story was about a university student Zoe Nolan going missing from a student party, never to be seen again.

Very cleverly written novel, with Joseph Knox being the ‘listening ear’ for Evelyn Mitchell, who started writing the book before he took over completing it in her absence. Knox being a real writer, inserted into a fictional crime – a blend of true crime-styled writing and fiction. This was my first time reading his writing, but I may try his Aiden Waits series.

The interviews with the family/friends/incidental witnesses that Evelyn complied, with them contradicting each other many of them challenging the truth to create a cover-up.

There were no likeable characters in the story; even Zoe, the missing person, had a secret persona that was less than the innocent that friends and family believed her to be.

It was slow going from the start, and it was nearly a DNF for me at some points, but I did return to it time and again to find out how it ended. It was well written enough that I wanted to know what happened to Zoe; it was just too long.

I would like to thank #NetGalley and Random House Transworld for the opportunity of reading this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating 2.75 / 5.0
This book was due for release on June 17, 2021

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Grief, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, and Kidnapping

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

madimairee's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Kidnapping, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, and Murder

milliep's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book! I think some parts werent necessarily believable, but I enjoyed the novelty of its format and the twists and turns. Great idea and well executed - did find it strange that there was no disclaimer saying the story wasnt actually true though haha

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment