Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers

14 reviews

stephaniezd's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

2.5

+half a point for finishing it, because I wanted to see if my prediction was right (it was). What a terrible combination of a podcaster’s wet dream to solve the Jon Benet Ramsey case and a cheap knockoff of Sharp Objects. Take a pass on this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Classism

antidietleah's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? No

3.75

 This one had me hooked! Really well done for a debut novel. This is one instance where the author did a great job of weaving the past and present into the narrative. And it definitely kept me guessing! Most of the time, I was highly suspicious of multiple people - it wasn't overly obvious to me which is a WIN for a mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, and Kidnapping

Minor: Pregnancy and Alcohol

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Blood

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Would’ve given this a five, except that I was frustrated by the ending. Storytelling was well done. All throughout the book, I had more information than any of the characters at any point in the story, but still, there were multiple red herrings to get through. And even though I had parts figured out in advance, including what really happened that night, which was only revealed at the very end, I was frustrated because there were multiple time lines, and the present time line was too abrupt for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

emadisonc's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

What small tragedies their lives had turned out to be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, and Miscarriage

haveyouseencass's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

lottiebrooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I really enjoyed the process of reading this book, it’s the first book in a while that’s made me think about it in between reads/want to get back to it. The author does red herrings and plot twists really well, and it’s an impressive debut book. 

-0.5 stars because the flashback case was SO similar to

JonBenet Ramsey’s story that it took a lot of the suspense out of it for me. I was left underwhelmed by the story playing out the same way as all the conspiracy theories about her case. That said, you can tell the author knows about realistic outcomes in this arena.

 

-1 Because, like everyone else, the ending took away from an otherwise powerful ending.  

To be in the corner of a character the whole time, and be excited that they “won”, just to not know if they died at the end/if their uncle with dementia is now alone is so weird to me. 4 more pages and I would have considered a 5 on this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pedophilia, Dementia, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Drug abuse

lwelch94's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

amberlfaris's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Dementia

Moderate: Sexual violence and Suicide

Minor: Drug abuse

tiffanysmith's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I’m a huge fan of Ashley Flowers and her podcasting. Crime Junkie was certainly my gateway into true crime podcasts. 

I’ll admit, it was challenging finding a grip on this story. I felt a lack of immersion and the characters fell a bit flat for me. It definitely had some great potential, but was a little more predictable than I would have liked. Some of the plot’s twists came out of nowhere with a lack of build up to them. Also, the ending just…ended. Abruptly. 

I did like the dynamics of the story, and the idea that nobody is who you think they were. Each character had a secret, which built a level of complexity to the mystery. There was a lot of telling and not showing with the writing, which I think was one of my biggest reasons of not being able to connect with the protagonist and the plot line. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, and Stalking