Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

No Exit: Diese Nacht überlebst du nicht by Taylor Adams

61 reviews

paloverdepages's review against another edition

dark 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

1.5

This is a book that might get you if you give it a chance. It took me a while to get invested, but even still I don't think I would have cared as much if I wasn't reading this at a friend's recommendation. I don't usually read books like this, but I don't regret this one. 

The prose has moments when it's really good, usually in sensory descriptions.

The entire back half of the book had me squirming. The gore is really well written; descriptive and visceral, and warrants an extra reminder to mind the content warnings.

The internal monologues and descriptions are kind of bland and halting, but that's mostly in the beginning and you can plow through it easily. Also at the beginning, the text is irritatingly repetitive.

We know her name is Darby (and we don't really care about her full name), we know her mom has cancer, we know that she's worried about her sister's vague text.

Specific details are mentioned a lot in really quick succession and it just made me feel like the author was making too many attempts to hook me. I'm already reading the book (unfortunately), you can get to the story now. 

There are a lot of scenes that feel like a point-and-click adventure game. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; I think it's the limited setting and all the props that the narration is juggling. Speaking of juggling, sometimes it's hard to tell who's speaking

(or who's still alive)

.

I'm reading this so I can watch the movie. It was a bit of a chore. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Gun violence, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

chelsea11's review against another edition

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

angstyweeaboo's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Rape, and Dementia

emilypage99's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder

thatonehorse's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Fast paced and twisty 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent

millie251'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

michelle_my_belle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.0

This was a very fast paced, action packed thriller. It leaned a little too far into horror for my tastes and contained a lot of graphic violence. I will say, it was a very compelling story and I continued reading wanting to find out what happened, so it was definitely successful in drawing me in and building suspense. Overall, it just wasn’t really for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

Minor: Cancer

mmarquis1158's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

I was on the edge of my seat for the entire read. I never knew what to expect next which kept me engaged throughout. My only complaint is that there were a few scenes that felt a little unnecessary drawn out and I was anxious for it to just move along (ex: a really long and descriptive scene of running/chasing). Other than that, this was an exciting read. It was chilling, intriguing, and had me surprised all the way to the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Vomit, Trafficking, and Death of parent

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