Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

209 reviews

lauranaidenov's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

klor's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

religious lesbian cat POV, that's all

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent

quirkko24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

stacygayle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Murder

jill_holly's review

dark mysterious 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

4.0

I spent the majority of this book not sure what was going on and at points, at bit bored. But, I'm glad I stuck with it! Although I had an idea of what the twist was, I didn't know the full extent and it made for an interesting conclusion. My first Catriona Ward and I am intrigued to read more from her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

patibeatriz's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Dementia, and Kidnapping

amandalachelle's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

leffel's review against another edition

challenging

This book really fucked me up. And maybe it’s due to the nature of my job, but I felt genuinely upset after finishing it. So if horror and thriller is your thing, I think you would love it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

dan_tee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This is an interesting book. Less horror than psychological thriller, we follow Ted, a seemingly nice slow guy, and learn more about his life and how he might not be as nice as he seems. 

I went into this completely blind, so the twists and turns worked for me. Took a little time to get going, but the last third had me speeding through it. 

Spoilers below:

Ted is a person with DID. I had no clue that this would be a thing, and so this kept the mystery working for me. Dee, the missing girls' sister was also interesting; it was nice having someone to root for, and empathise with without feeling guilty..until you realise she was wrong about Ted. Ted's alters come from trauma inflected by his mother. You're led to believe she is..well, mildly abusive, but also caring and scared for Ted and what he is. Again, it's not until the last portion of the book we are shown his mother was more than a little abusive, and was in fact a serial killer and incredibly abusive both physically and psychologically.

So yeah. If you guess the twist, or have seen a lot of discourse around this, you probably won't get as much out of it. I enjoyed it as I was a blank slate. 

Not the most beautiful writing, but an interesting premise reasonably well executed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

bookswithlauren'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail