Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Passengers by John Marrs

12 reviews

mairi99's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

sarah_amy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A re-read after finishing The One for the first time recently. Equally as fantastic the second time around. Marrs' speculative fiction books give off very Black Mirror vibes, where it feels like a very possible near-future if technology advances just the slightest. I love how this book dared to deliver on some of the threats, which kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time, not actually knowing whether good would prevail as expected. A great cast of characters, all very diverse, and the story twisted in ways you didn't expect. After reading The Passengers and The One, it's certainly given me a lot to think about regarding just how much of my information is available online & how much someone could find out about me if they really dug deep - not just personal details such as location and financial, but even niche things...such as my taste in books! One things for certain...I don't think I'll ever trust self-driving cars after reading this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Miscarriage, Terminal illness, and Vomit

julienicole1106's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sophieamreacher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Interesting plot and characters, as well as unexpected plot twists, but I felt it went on longer than needed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Islamophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

quetzel90's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Stalking

Minor: Child death

chireadsandchill's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

madanxiety's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

I've been reading so many romance novels over the last few years that I forgot what it was like to read a truly thrilling book. The pacing of this book is masterful. It starts off quite slow, then it speeds up toward the end, but not so fast that we're left with a rushed and incomplete ending, which I guess I've come to expect, unfortunately. When a big climactic moment happened, I was surprised to see there were still about two hours left in the audiobook! I really appreciated that closure.

Aside from pace, I am also always a huge fan of ensembles, which is part of what initially sustained my attention. I was like damn, how many hostages are there? Lol. 

More to the content of the novel, I liked how each character was flawed in a very human way, and yet the protagonist (who, despite all the other characters, I'd say is Libby) was still always someone you could route for. This was a skillful balance to maintain. 

I also have a soft spot for anti-establishment narratives lol. As one of the characters states at some point, the real villains turn out to be people, not AI. 

Going back to Alex, while I'm under the spoilers cut, I do feel somewhat vindicated for never trusting "Jude" after hearing from his perspective early in the book. I'm impressed with that subtle characterization. There was something stalkerish and frenzied about his way of speaking. I mean, the biggest red flag was def him getting a semi in the middle of a hostage situation lol. I took that as revealing something stunted or disturbed about him, anyway. Still, as the book went on, I started to think I'd been reading too much into it, given that Libby stayed willing to save Jude over the others. Such a hopeless romantic move for an otherwise fairly logical character.

My only critique of the book is how characters of color are treated. I will say more under the cut, but ofc it will include major spoilers. 

There was one minor detail toward the end that rubbed me the wrong way. When Alex revealed that his company's work had been given to "the Indians," I thought that was a bit... stereotypical? Why could this Indian company not have been given a name? Why must the entire (enormous) population of India be to blame and not just the company that chose to use stolen work and ultimately spark a global privacy & transportation crisis? Again, I recognize that this was an incredible small detail, coming from the antagonist no less, but at the same time, we are meant to sympathize with Alex somewhat, right? Like, we're meant to agree that that initial situation that led to the rise of level 5 vehicles was fucked and unethical. I just take these tiny details as significant considering popular sentiments regarding immigrants in the UK, to say nothing of their unique historical relationship with India. 

I might've written this off as simply revealing Alex's own biases and flaws, but POC in this book are pretty much all murdered or painted as villains. It seems like the narrative of the book leans sympathetic toward POC, with only unlikeable characters being outright racist, the POC still die unjust deaths. It's like, I get that the novel is meant to be representative of the ugly parts of reality, including the disproportionate victimization of POC, but idk if that's enough justification for using characters of color as mere plot devices or backstory, not when that's the plight of ALL of them.

Anyway, I think the book is an interesting exploration of how AI could be weaponized by both powerful people and vigilantes. It's a cautionary tale about being too trusting of technology with regard to the collection and sharing of private data. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer and Infertility

relyu39's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-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

3.0

Really good plot wise, the way the poc characters were treated wasn’t very good but for the social commentary I guess it made some sense, still felt icky 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, Xenophobia, and Car accident

Moderate: Pedophilia and Stalking

Minor: Pregnancy

emeraldsanto's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

The Passengers by John Marrs is a gripping and fast-paced thriller that explores the potential dangers of self-driving cars. The story follows eight passengers who are locked inside their autonomous vehicles and forced to play a deadly game orchestrated by an unknown hacker. With their lives on the line, the passengers must race against time to uncover the hacker's identity and save themselves.

While the concept of the book is intriguing and the plot is well-paced, as someone who works in IT I found some of the technical aspects of the story to be a bit tacky or exaggerated. The book is clearly written with a layperson audience in mind, and some of the technological details may not be entirely accurate or plausible.

That being said, Marrs does a good job of keeping the reader engaged with his skillful use of suspense and multiple perspectives. Each passenger's backstory is revealed through a series of flashbacks, which adds depth and complexity to the characters. The ending of the book is surprising and satisfying, wrapping up the story in a neat and unexpected way.

Overall, while The Passengers may not be entirely realistic in its portrayal of technology and cybersecurity, it's still an enjoyable and thrilling read. If you're looking for a fast-paced thriller with plenty of twists and turns, then The Passengers is definitely worth a look.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

loysydneyweissman's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

if you like black mirror you’ll like this. i genuinely was surprised by every twist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism