Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

No Exit: Diese Nacht überlebst du nicht by Taylor Adams

19 reviews

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

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

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

kamrynkoble's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

This is honestly one of my favorite thrillers I’ve ever read. I devoured this and was constantly thinking about it when I couldn’t be reading it. 

It was super twisty and kept me on my toes. The ending also made me cry—I don’t think I’ve EVER cried over a thriller! This was a great one. Perfectly plotted and worth studying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Animal cruelty, and Sexual assault

laurrelise's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexual assault and Death of parent

jjxssx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Body horror, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Trafficking

Minor: Death of parent and Vomit

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

Minor: Death of parent

bryelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Darby is an art student who is driving home to see her mom in the hospital with cancer. She has to stop at a rest stop due to a blizzard. She finds a child in the back of a van and must save the child from whoever put her here. 

Darby trusts all the wrong people through out the night and has to constantly change her plans. 
Ashley is the mastermind behind this operation to bring Jay to his uncle. He thinks he is super smart but keeps getting stumped by Darby. Darby and Jay have to survive the night before the cops come to help them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Torture, Police brutality, Gun violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Death of parent, Blood, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Violence, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual violence, Cancer, Sexual assault, and Ableism

rae_bookmarkchronicles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I would recommend this book to people who are fans of Gillian Flynn. Taylor Adams has a talent for creating gross characters that make you uncomfortable and situations that give you the ick.

This was definitely thrilling and had a lot of plot twists however there were some elements that I did not enjoy: the use of the n-word and other slurs, unnecessary vulgarity at times, and things of that nature.

I will be listing content warnings for this, there are a ton.

I would recommend the Hulu movie adaptation but caution that there is a lot of blood and it includes drug use that is not present in the book. I gave the movie 4 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Trafficking, Racism, Vomit, Ableism, and Sexual assault

rochlay24's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Slavery and Sexual assault

carissa230's review against another edition

dark 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

Darby is rushing across the country to see her mom who is dying. She hits a blizzard in the mountains and gets stuck at a rest stop. Pretty fast she finds a little girl in a dog cage in the back of a van. Now Darby has to race the clock to save the little girl and figure out which of the 4 people in the rest stop are the kidnappers.
Darby makes terrible choices, but who knows what choices a person would make in that situation. The book is fast paced and hard to put down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Sexual assault

alexdicanio's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

The pacing of this book was incredibly fast. Which I appreciate. Things got going almost immediately. 

I thought the characters were pretty well done. Ashley, was especially interesting. The dialogue and interactions between the characters made sense. The fact that not everything was convenient for the main character I really liked too. The night definitely wasn’t easy on her. 

What I didn’t like was how unbelievable it was for Darby to survive. Realistically, she should have been dead not even half way through the book. Sure, maybe adrenaline could cause her to fight back while being asphyxiated (and that’s a strong maybe), but rolling down a hill? In the freezing cold, with a broken nose?

I digress.

It was a good time. I’d recommend it, especially for people who are just starting to branch out to read thrillers. Be sure to check trigger warnings because this book does get pretty gruesome. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Kidnapping, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Pedophilia