Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

No Exit: Diese Nacht überlebst du nicht by Taylor Adams

109 reviews

anuxr's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

Racial slurs were completely unnecessary to the plot. Writing was repetitive. Plot dragged on and on. Was taken out of the story many times. Skip this book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Torture, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

Moderate: Racial slurs and Xenophobia

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

hippie_raccoon's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

2.75

A fast read.

Ashley was almost cartoonish in how terrible he was. He casually murdered a kitten, kidnapped a little girl for sex work, mutilates others, slowly kills people....
 It's almost too much. 

I don't know if the author has ever interacted with a 9 year old, but Jay is not a convincing child. 
For that matter, Darby isn't really a convincing young-20s woman. She's kind of flat. There's a subplot about getting home to see her mom in an emergency with some self guilt thrown in.

I did enjoy the overall action of the book. The violence was over the top, but I can appreciate the fact that people actually get hurt. Although Darby's plot armor is thiiiick. So is Ashley's for a lot of it, I guess.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Violence, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Torture, Racism, and Kidnapping

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, Murder, Violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

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

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

rawrsoobin's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Trafficking, Gaslighting, and Ableism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Vomit, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Cancer, and Alcoholism

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

kingcrookback'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

I read this based off a recommendation from a friend, and I am so glad I trusted her.

Is this one of those books I'm going to think about for the rest of my life? No. But I really enjoyed this. It pulled me out the reading slump I could feel myself sliding into. The way Adams structured the tension within scenes and chapter to chapter kept pulling me along for the ride, it was almost beyond me to put my e-reader down. I will admit that the number of times where something that was planted in an earlier scene paid off perfectly later does strain credulity sometimes. But honestly, I'd rather that than twists thrown in for shock value, so I didn't mind all that much.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Trafficking, Death of parent, Child abuse, Gun violence, and Grief

Minor: Rape, Animal cruelty, and Vomit

ohkaereads's review against another edition

reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This book's only purpose was introducing me to things I'll possibly not like (wintery & snowy settings, isolation/single locations, one day/night settings) and things I'll possibly like (cat/mouse trope, literary writing, character studies) in thrillers. It all felt so standard and predictable in a bad way. I felt no connection to the story whilst reading and probably will forget I ever read it. Hopefully, the movie will have more of an effect on me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Racial slurs, and Cursing

Minor: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, and Terminal illness

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

College student Darby Thorne gets stranded in a rural rest area during a snowstorm—and then finds a young girl locked in a dog cage inside a van in the parking lot.

It took me YEARS to get to this book but I am so glad I finally did! I read it in a single day because I literally could not put it down. No Exit is a true thriller in every sense of the word—fast paced and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. I also really loved the characters (even those I hated were rendered really well) and Darby in particular made for a kickass heroine.

My one quibble with this is that I anticipated more of a mystery element with big reveals and this isn’t really that kind of story. But if you want a super entertaining locked room drama and don’t mind a bit of gore, I highly recommend giving this a try.

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: high octane thrillers; locked room settings; crisis/survival plotlines

CW: Mentions of animal cruelty/death; kidnapping; mentions of child abuse and sexual abuse; trafficking; blood/murder/gore

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Gun violence, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Dementia

breeski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow this lives up to the hype. Probably the best book I've read all year. This was a rollercoaster, I had to just stare at the ceiling for a while after finishing this. Definitely read trigger warnings, more gore than I was expecting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Gore, Torture, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Murder, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Bullying