Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

No Exit: Diese Nacht überlebst du nicht by Taylor Adams

49 reviews

missgrangerr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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

5.0

To me everything about this book is pitch perfect. I felt like I was there the whole time and the description made it a little too easy to visualize everything (IYKYK) This cat and mouse was dead phenomenal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

buer's review against another edition

dark 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

Young college student, Darby Thorne, finds herself trapped at a rest stop on her way to say goodbye to her dying mother. After a strange series of events, Darby realizes that there is a kidnapped child in the back of one of the vehicles in the parking lot. She must figure out which of the four strangers at the rest stop is the killer and what she needs to do to save the kidnapped girl. 

I want to like this book - it’s fast-paced, easy to read, and has an overarching theme of a young woman realizing that she is a better, stronger, and more resilient person than she could have ever imagined. Taylor Adams has a simple, visceral writing style that I like and introduces several interesting twists. 

However. Much like one of the characters in this book, Adams feels like the kind of person who knows how to convincingly wear a mask. The mask he has chosen is that he’s the kind of person who believes that women are strong and capable, but considering that he sexualizes every female character in his book with varying degrees of brutality, I’m not convinced. 

I also find it difficult to enjoy a book in which the author goes out of his way to introduce prejudice into the story.  Taylor names an imaginary geographical landmark with a slur. He has a character tell multiple misogynistic jokes and a racist one that involves yet another slur. He uses the r-word and repeatedly references a probably homophobic piece of graffiti that he invented for the bathroom wall at the rest stop. 

Maybe I’m wrong about Taylor, but I can’t recommend this book in good conscience. There are too many moments that got under my skin for reasons that weren’t serving the plot or adding depth to characters.

There are plenty other books that accomplish what this book does without also reeking of ick. Read those instead. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Fatphobia, and Fire/Fire injury

aniwillow's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Excrement, and Grief

xlipkins's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, Terminal illness, and Trafficking

saraavowlerr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

wends_nblw's review against another edition

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

4.0

I need to start taking reviews with a grain of salt because they always set my expectations too high. That being said, this was still a good thriller.

I couldn't stand Darby at first, but I found myself warming up to her towards the halfway point before fully loving her character by the end. With the rest of the cast, I couldn't decide if I hated or loved them. There aren't many side characters : aside from Darby, we have five other distinctive characters.

As for the culprit

(in this case : one of the culprits, Ashley)

... I found myself fully enraptured by them. Their motive, their point of view, the way they spoke.. I couldn't help but find myself being manipulated by them. By the end, I was as smitten with them as they were with Darby. For sure one of my favorite antagonists of any book.

So many twists and turns, I wouldn't say this book had me on the edge of my seat, but it certainly had me sitting up straight. Every time I thought this book was going to end, that Darby and this little girl, Jay, were going to escape, 'No Exit' would toss that hope aside and shoot me with a nail gun. I would groan and in the words of our villain, say "oh, come on."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Torture, and Vomit

This book uses the n + r slurs both once.

claire_reardon's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

This was the exact kind of nonsensical stupidity I needed after two heavy fantasy books. Can’t wait to see the movie and laugh through the entire thing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I put this book down 22 pages in the first time, but I just couldn't help not knowing what happens especially considering how popular it was online so I decided to give the book a chance. I did finish it this time. Overall I'd say it was a very entertaining read for me. All together I read it within a few hours. Very fast paced in my opinion, however there were numerous inconsistencies, idiotic behavior, and unsettling details that didn't need to be included. 

We find out who the perpetrator(s) is/are pretty quickly which to me wasn't a surprise. The person revealed themsleves earlier but the main character just didn't pick up on the dialogue.

The part about Lars and Ashley being brother's was unexpected. I'll grant the author that, but having Sandi involved felt ridiculous. She didn't really contribute much to the story. Also I wasn't too surprised that she was involved cuz she was a little too calm for me to believe something wasn' t up.

Also, the author has a tendecy to utilize plot points only when they're convenient for the story to either move the plot along or to enhance the stakes rather than having the plot points make sense. 

For example, we're told they're in a blizzard, but when the characters would go outside there's rarely any mention of them being affected the gushing winds pulling them back or suffering from frost bite or them shivering at all.

Another example is how the abducted child, Jay, was portrayed. She has Addison's disease and is told that extreme stressful situations can indirectly lead to her death. But this element is only utilize when the author wants to raise the stakes because when Darby ultimately finds her way to Jay she is unbelievably calm. And she remains calm in most of the situations the main character encounters. Not once did she shed tears or cry hysterically. I thought this was deliberate and that the author was gonna reveal some big twist that the girl was in on it too or something, but no, it's just poor writing.

Also, I found the use of racial slurs in this book to be so unnecessary. As well as the potential incest/molestation and animal cruelty. Like we get the main perpetrator is a reprehensible psychotic human being, but I think we established that the moment it's revealed that they sex traffick young girls and don't care. All that other stuff wasn't just unnecessary icing an already drenched cake.

Also we find that Lars suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome which to me, was very unnecessary and I think was only used to establish that he was a "mindless" follower and a victim to his brother's conditioning. But I don't think it was necessary to add things like fetal alcohol syndrome and pancreatic cancer when they literally contributed little to nothing towards the plot.

Also, the ending felt kinda ambiguous to me, but maybe I just looked too much into it. I'm glad I read it so I can assuage my curiosity so I know to never pick it up again. Don't think I'll ever read anything this author writes. It just wasn't for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Vomit, Medical content, and Grief

uchihas's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Vomit, Dementia, Trafficking, and Car accident