Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

22 reviews

kendallllouise's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

mimsterzoo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

Compelling psychological thriller/horror, but deserves trigger warnings for child and animal abuse, PTSD

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death and Alcohol

spaghettii's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Somewhat predictable, did not love the mental health as a plot device but I think it was done with good intentions

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

katreena's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

apollo0325's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Just finished but going to come back to this review and maybe adjust star ratings (currently a 3)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism and Medical content

There are a lot of potentially triggering material

including the description of a hanging (suicide), injury/burn descriptions, child abuse, starvation, death, death of a child (dead child's body described), and as a MAJOR PLOT POINT, dissociative identity disorder (I do not have DID so I cannot speak to the authenticity of it - the author's afterword describes her research on DID).

If you're afraid of snakes, one of the narrators has a severe fear of snakes and will constantly describe snakes.

chrisljm's review against another edition

challenging dark informative 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

3.75

I've never really found myself enjoying twists in thriller novels because they often feel like the author trying to pull a fast one on me, but I think it's done well in this book and I was positively stunned I must say. I thought I was able to see what was coming but I truly didn't. This was a very unique story, so creative, and honestly more than being a thriller, it was very sad. 

I can tell the author truly did her research on DID and I really appreciate that. I enjoyed reading the ending author's note where she detailed her research process, as well as the people and resources she utilized. I also love seeing her inclusion of a bibliography with all her sources.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Cursing, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

mel_j's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

I guessed the first two plot twists very quickly, but even after that, the book kept surprising me. Brilliantly written, very twisty, with deeply human characters. It had a creepy atmosphere, but ended up heartbreaking. 
What a great book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Drug use, and Blood

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Homophobia, and Alcohol

chris_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

kassiebee's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

A Pleasant and Not-So-Pleasant Surprise

i went into this book not knowing a thing- not even the synopsis. i saw the creepy cover (with the cat) and i thought “this looks spooky…lets do it”.

as i read the first few chapters, i was  fully expecting a mysterious, killer-catching, revenge having, story. until the

D.I.D implications started. i caught on pretty fast, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. I was intrigued but, I’m not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed too. the mystery of Girl with Popsicle really got me in the mood to figure out how, when, and where Ted pulled this all off. and SO excited to read a thrilling escape by Lauren and Olivia. I didn’t care if it didn’t make sense that Lauren could understand cats. (a flaw on my part)

 BUT… after my excitement wore off, and changed my expectations… i was glad (accepted) where the story was going. As i read on, i found myself intrigued by the explanation of it all. it all really, really made sense. And i enjoyed it. i LOVED how Ward was able to make me feel icky about Ted at the beginning, to making me happy for him in the end. love that.

All in all, the slow reveal of Ted’s psyche for us to figure out was fun- you can tell that Ward did her homework.

Now on to what I didn’t like…

Dee, Dee, Dee… had so much potential. i didn’t care for her. i appreciated and understood her role in the story, but her death did not affect me as much as I hoped/should have. and bug man?? that incident in the bar/store was just bizarre, how he was just kinda left there and not really mentioned again. that’s a bookish pet peeve of mine ‘‘v.v …

Lastly , unpopular opinion, but i did not enjoy Olivia’s chapters …. oops. i found myself rushing through them to get to Lauren and Ted, even Dee. It took a while for her chapters to get interesting even though they had really important tidbits and clues. love this cute gay cat but i just idk…

would i re-read? nah
am i glad i did? yeah 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Religious bigotry and Abandonment

jasminechocklettslee's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Mental illness

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt