Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

An Honest Lie by Tarryn Fisher

10 reviews

mcarthurhr's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

katiebella_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

4.25⭐️

Summery

Lorraine (Rainy) Ives is new to Seattle. She just moved there with her boyfriend Grant. In an effort to make friends, she joins the "happy hour" of Grant's friends' wives. At one of these nights, she is invited to Vegas for their annual "girls' getaway."

But Rainy doesn't want to go to Nevada. Her past that she wants to forget is in Nevada. When she is ultimately talked into going, her past catches up with her. Leaving the friend group in shreds.

My Thoughts 

The book is told from Rainy's Pov. Both the past and present. For the first half of the book, I definitely found the past to be the more intriguing of the two narratives. I was quickly turning pages, wanting to know what was going on and where it was leading.

Most of the book focuses on cult life and how an individual can be both brainwashed and stripped of all choices in order to keep a person complacent and in line. The author obviously did her research. I could feel the trauma Rainy went through and easily sympathized with her.

All the characters were fleshed out, each with their own individual personalities and faults. Both their attrabutions and defects were laid bare on the pages. I loved that.

It's more of a dramatized fiction than a thriller but still a book I'm glad to have

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

nordicat's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

joensign's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, and Pedophilia

tspice24's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual assault

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.25

I’m sorry to say that not much stood out for the first two-quarters of An Honest Lie. Once the third act kicked off, however, that’s when my investment in this generic cult thriller amped up significantly. I’ve only read one other Tarryn Fisher thriller, The Wrong Family; I recall it being fairly enjoyable, yet I can’t recall my specific opinions on it or most of its plot beats. Take from that what you will. The Wives is still on my TBR pile, but considering my experience with the author’s work, I’m not holding high expectations for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Self harm, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

tayahmarie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

I know that this book has received pretty low and/or mixed reviews, but clearly I’m in the minority because I ate this UP! 😭

I’ve said this before, but I love a good dual timeline, and I was so fascinated by/eager to get back to Rainy’s past and learn more about her childhood, the compound, and how her experiences shaped her into the character that we follow in the present timeline. Honestly, my heart broke for her; she went through so much loss, abuse, and turmoil starting from a young age. I’ve never been a fan of cult stories, documentaries, etc. (besides the notorious ones like The Manson Family and Jonestown) because they hit TOO close to home and humankind/reality is always a lot scarier than anything else IMO. All in all, I loved Rainy and was invested in her from the very start. I couldn’t wait for her to enact her revenge on the one person who severely wronged her - as problematic as that may sound 🤷🏾‍♀️

I also wanted to note that I enjoyed The Real Housewives-esque nature of Rainy’s friend group because those women were all a mess and had the stupidest drama, but I lived for it, lmao! 

The main things that I didn’t care for was that the writing got a bit weird at certain points and I felt like some of what was going on in the present day timeline dragged on. I was more-so interested in the past, but I do appreciate how everything came together in the end.

Final Thoughts: Overall, I loved the story! The MC was compelling, the plot was thrilling, and all the cult sh*t was wild. Also, the last sentence of the story 🫶🏾!!! I legit teared up because it was the icing on the cake/satisfying end to a great revenge tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

boiler_bookworm's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

2.75

Not at all what I was expecting —- and in a bad way. The book summary makes it seem like this is a girls getaway gone wrong —-  not accurate at all. Also, I felt like the summary gave away way to much —- Check the trigger warnings on this one fyi

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

hayleighheggem's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

pagesofjean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury