Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers

8 reviews

lottiebrooks's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I really enjoyed the process of reading this book, it’s the first book in a while that’s made me think about it in between reads/want to get back to it. The author does red herrings and plot twists really well, and it’s an impressive debut book. 

-0.5 stars because the flashback case was SO similar to

JonBenet Ramsey’s story that it took a lot of the suspense out of it for me. I was left underwhelmed by the story playing out the same way as all the conspiracy theories about her case. That said, you can tell the author knows about realistic outcomes in this arena.

 

-1 Because, like everyone else, the ending took away from an otherwise powerful ending.  

To be in the corner of a character the whole time, and be excited that they “won”, just to not know if they died at the end/if their uncle with dementia is now alone is so weird to me. 4 more pages and I would have considered a 5 on this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Child death, Murder, and Dementia

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Drug abuse and Animal cruelty

lwelch94's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

amberlfaris's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Dementia

Moderate: Sexual violence and Suicide

Minor: Drug abuse

tiffanysmith's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I’m a huge fan of Ashley Flowers and her podcasting. Crime Junkie was certainly my gateway into true crime podcasts. 

I’ll admit, it was challenging finding a grip on this story. I felt a lack of immersion and the characters fell a bit flat for me. It definitely had some great potential, but was a little more predictable than I would have liked. Some of the plot’s twists came out of nowhere with a lack of build up to them. Also, the ending just…ended. Abruptly. 

I did like the dynamics of the story, and the idea that nobody is who you think they were. Each character had a secret, which built a level of complexity to the mystery. There was a lot of telling and not showing with the writing, which I think was one of my biggest reasons of not being able to connect with the protagonist and the plot line. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Cursing

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Grief, Violence, and Dementia

Minor: Drug abuse, Stalking, Drug use, and Miscarriage

kenz1227's review

dark mysterious 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

4.75

I’m usually a skeptic when popular people of one profession try their hand at writing a book, but I’m thoroughly impressed by Ashley Flowers’ novel! (note: I am a Crime Junkie fan and she had help writing so credit where credit is due) The plot was both realistic/reminiscent of actual true crime cases and fresh (it kept me guessing-you don't ever have 100% of the pieces of the puzzle).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Dementia, and Child death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Stalking, Violence, and Suicide

Minor: Infertility and Mass/school shootings

casuallycharlie's review

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pedophilia, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Dementia, Drug abuse, and Stalking

Minor: Miscarriage

maregred's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Child death, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Gun violence, and Infidelity

Minor: Classism, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Alcohol, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Blood

madsmcw_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I've been listening to the Crime Junkie Podcast for a few years now and was absolutely ecstatic when I found out Ashley was writing a book! It's almost hard to believe that this is a debut novel because it's honestly written so well. The mystery had SO many twists. Once you thought you finally had it figured out something else happened that changed everything. Everything was also really well paced and compelled you to keep reading.

The one thing I didn't really like was the ending. It ends pretty abruptly and was open ended which I'm not a huge fan of. I like endings with concrete endings because it just feels unfinished otherwise.

I listened to this on audio and both narrators were fantastic so I'd highly recommend reading that way

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Child death, Infidelity, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Stalking, Suicide, Sexual assault, Infertility, Alcohol, and Miscarriage