Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

25 reviews

norwegianforestreader's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Cursing, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Infidelity, Mental illness, Confinement, and Stalking

brynhayes's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Abandonment, Alcohol, Grief, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Blood, Mental illness, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Rape, Death, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

jacs63's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

** spoiler alert ** I was told by someone that this wasn't very good, and boy, were they right. 
It was truely awful and so disappointing, as so many people rave about Lisa Jewell.
I borrowed this one from the library and saved my money, and I'm glad I did. 
I read in the 'Acknowledgements' that she wasn't going to write a sequel, but she gave in to pressure from her fans. Well, she needs to develop a back-bone.

I gave the book 2 stars, just for the fact that I am sure LJ can write. I'm just not sure that this is her best work. 

The first book was 'good'. A bit over-hyped, as all books are these days, with pages and pages of adulation from other famous authors and social media people. 
I was mildly underwhelmed though, but thought it was 'ok.' A different type of story, but it went on a bit. 

This book is so much worse. 
Nothing actually happens in it. 
It's so BORING. 
So many plot holes. 
Interpol are a bit 'pants', aren't they? Knowing all about Lucy and Henry etc but letting them travel back to the UK on false passports, and doing nothing. 
Rachel's character was a waste of good paper. 
I only read the book really, because her most intriguing character in the first book, Phin, might make an appearance. Except he doesn't. Not till the last 2 chapters or so. And he does nothing. What a wasted opportunity. 
LJ introduces a new character, with the Detective investigating the case, but even he can't save the story. He's so under-written. 
There's one suicide from a secondary character, who does it to save another character. 
There is a character who rapes someone, but this isn't new. He did it in the last book. 
And.........nothing else. 

I can't believe anyone gave this 4 or 5 stars, but then again there no accounting for taste, as they say. 
My recommendation is, give it a miss. It's awful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Mental illness, Rape, Stalking, Suicide, Alcohol, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Confinement, and Death

lxcy153's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

A LOT OF TRIGGER WARNINGS
 despite liking this book it was not mentioned before any of said trigger warnings were brought up in dialogue that these would happen so just be careful before reading. personally this book was the star to my reading journey as i haven’t prior to this book ever had a drive to read, thus meaning i hadn’t read the first one (due to what i have found this seems to be the sequel) despite this i still found this book east to follow along with. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Rape, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Abandonment

Moderate: Kidnapping and Stalking

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.25

I didn't realize that this was the sequel to The Family Upstairs when I started, and I probably would have waited a bit to be a better headspace because of all of the assault. But I still really enjoyed it, and I like the author's storytelling a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Suicide

Minor: Grief and Infidelity

whatchareadingheather's review against another edition

This sequel absolutely was not needed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Stalking

rochelleisreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Stalking, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Suicide

monique1316's review

I really enjoyed The Family Upstairs so I was excited to start this one but at 45% I'm sorry to say its a DNF for me. The swearing is just too much (and coming from me that's saying something) there are also too many POVs to try and keep up with especially since there is not much going on so I kept zoning out. In my opinion this book was not needed.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Rape, Sexual violence, and Emotional abuse

helloits_jen's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A really quick and mostly easy read. Didn’t enjoy it anywhere as much as the first one though and didn’t really get a sense of the story being ‘complete’. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Death, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Pedophilia, Violence, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Miscarriage

elle_e_d_light's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.0

This was a wholly unnecessary sequel with an ending to this story that wrapped up just a bit to cleanly for my taste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infertility, and Suicide

If you've read the first book, you shouldn't be surprised at any of the content in this one. A lot of the events of the first book are either mentioned or continue throughout this book.