Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Nestala bez traga by Chevy Stevens

18 reviews

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

To say I liked/enjoyed this book feels wrong because this book was very heavy. Let's just say this is the first ever thriller where I was shedding tears. It did take me some time to get into (about 60 pages, but after that, I was hooked) because of how the story was formatted. So, just to prepare you the story is told through therapy sessions where only the main character speaks, and in these sessions, she starts off talking about a detail/event that happened to her in the present then goes into what happened to her then it ends off with her in the present again (that's how each chapter starts and ends). The first 50-60% of this book is her (Annie) recounting what happened to her and how she escapes. And my gosh it's so heartbreaking to read. 

Something I want to point out is that I personally like how the author presented Annie's personality through how she acts and speaks because you really get a feel into the type of person she is and how this experience has shaped who she's become. I think the author did a good job in presenting what an experience like this can take from someone and something as tragic as this creates deep scars into someone; scars that may never go away. 

The rest of the novel explores the present-day investigation into who did this to her and why. Now I personally feel very indifferent towards the twist. I understood the twist, however, I understand why many people feel like it was a cop-out and that it lacked luster. Especially because I don't think we got enough closure especially pertaining to certain characters like Luke (I really felt for him; he was so kind). 

I did not like Christina and I'm glad Annie finally let her go. I can't believe she even forgave her the first time. It still leaves a bad taste in my mouth that she and Luke slept together while Annie was out being tortured by "The Freak".

  Overall, if you do think about reading this I really do suggest checking those trigger warnings. I've never cried in a thriller until I read this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Grief, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Body horror, Death, Violence, Torture, Stalking, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Murder, Medical content, Cursing, Body shaming, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Cancer, Car accident, and Animal cruelty

xtritagonist's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Ableism

molly_doll's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy

wyanthelena6's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Child death, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

smixter88's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.0

I can't use my normal rating scale for this book. It's extremely heavy and chock full of trigger warnings. It tosses them right in from the word go. I gave this book four stars because this author kept me until the very end. I was disgusted, sad, hopeful, and just sympathetic the entire time. It was a brutal read. I had a love/hate relationship with the ending, which is why I took one star away. I wanted Annie to have more closure. I thought she deserved more. I can't say I'd recommend this book to many people. Read at your own risk. If you have any trigger warnings, check them out, and don't take them lightly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Grief, Blood, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Death, Rape, Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

booknerdxo88's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Torture, Gaslighting, Violence, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Child death, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Rape

cateyeschloe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book, despite it being a thematically difficult read.

The story opens on a normal day with our main character, and she honestly wasn’t super likeable to me at the start (my opinion of which did improve as much as it could as the book progressed). However, the story pretty much immediately jumps into her kidnapping, and it gets very intense very fast. 

I cannot stress enough how pervasive and horrifying the misogyny is in this book! It is integral to the plot, but parts are really difficult to stomach. 

Overall, this was a really interesting story, and I enjoyed the perspective the author used to present it. The twists were engaging and interesting with an ending that satisfied me nicely! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Sexism, Misogyny, Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Stalking, Violence, Car accident, Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fatphobia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence

Rape is very pervasive in this book, as well as the after effects of it.

The abuse is very intense and focuses heavily on psychological manipulation, along with physical abuse.

Child abuse and child death is a big, extremely tragic and upsetting part of this book, involving a weeks old infant.

Forced pregnancy happens due to kidnapping, confinement, and continuous rape.

A lot of examples of PTSD, panic attacks, anxiety, paranoia, etc. are present throughout.

Someone shoots a duck in the head. A deer is killed off scene and then on page is gutted. A scene is described of someone hitting a cat with a car.

klcrichton's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is one of my favorite books of all time. It was gut wrenching, sad, visceral and heartbreaking. It will stick with me for a long time. It’s not often a book will make me openly cry. I felt the main character and her emotions as the story unfolded through her lens. The writing is phenomenal. Chevy Stevens has now become one of my favorite authors 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual violence, Torture, Child death, Pregnancy, Confinement, Sexual assault, Acephobia/Arophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Child abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Violence

betsybuttons's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this, and the twist was good. But I hated, HATED the parts of the book where she was speaking directly to her therapist. She was written as a totally different person. In those sections, she was sarcastic and had a dry, dark sense of humor. It just didn’t jive with the way she was written in the rest of the book. Overall, engaging and well written. Just weird. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, Stalking, Death, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Violence

paperbackbea's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This one did not do it for me, which is extremely disappointing because I had seen/heard really good things about this novel! I found the writing to be a bit immature, and I did not like this ending at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Rape, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Grief, Murder, Stalking, and Kidnapping