Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding

14 reviews

priscillarobock's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jcinf's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

After my last few books had 70+ page chapters, it was nice reading something with short chapters again. I finished this book in 2-3 days. 

I enjoyed the plot, most of the characters, and (again) the short chapters. 

I will say, I had my suspicions from the start that

Jesse was a bad man. Never trust a love bomber, lol.

and I was right. Predicting that didn’t make it any less enjoyable for me, though. If the author didn’t want readers to make the hypothesis on their own, that could’ve been remedied by slower pacing. But I like fast-paced books and have been desperately in need of one. So I think it’s good as is. 

I liked that there were twists without it being confusing or hard to follow. That’s a trap a lot of thrillers fall into, and it ends up docking stars for me when they do that. 

The main critique I have is that I felt like one of the main characters pieced some things together too easily almost. You almost have to suspend disbelief about that in order to enjoy it. But I do feel like the ending kind of packages that up more nicely. 

I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys thrillers!

Note: heavy trigger warnings for everything I tagged. Especially on abuse and DV. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Misogyny, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sstewart89's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

daniofthewood'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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Slavery

killmoore_'s review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

4.75

I couldn't have loved this more. Heart dropping suspense, holler-out-loud plot twists and a touch of pure insanity. This is one of my favorite books of the year so far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

a_libraryghost's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

I absolutely loved this! One of the books strongest aspects is the two leading characters. I don’t think I’ve connected quite as much as with characters in a thriller for a while like I did with Lee and Hazel. For the most part I didn’t really guess any of the twists and honestly had no idea how it was going to end. Honestly for a long time I thought this was going to be a 5 star rating for me. 

There were some plot threads though that did feel unnecessary and like they didn’t go anywhere. I also wasn’t in love with the ending. It felt unfinished. I was surprised when I saw how little was left on the second last chapter. 

Overall still a great book though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

bee_isreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Dementia, and Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Pandemic/Epidemic

snslagle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Pandemic/Epidemic

stanleykaty's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

michelle_my_belle's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

 This was a solid thriller. It was fast-paced, suspenseful, and full of twists and secrets. I did feel like the last chunk of the book took an odd turn and resolved kind of abruptly. I also didn't really connect with any of the characters. Overall, an entertaining read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Addiction, Forced institutionalization, and Dementia