Reviews tagging 'Violence'

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby

57 reviews

silkyyy's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Mass/school shootings, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Racism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs, Drug use, Animal cruelty, and Drug abuse

Minor: Vomit

bex4dayz's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Pedophilia, Mass/school shootings, Racism, Violence, Hate crime, Child abuse, and Gun violence

morybaby's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Objectively, it’s a good book. The thing is I read razorblade tears before this and that is my standard. This did not do ✨it✨ for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, and Pedophilia

mercurial'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-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? No

4.75

Thrilling, mysterious and I couldn’t see any of it coming. I really enjoyed the ride. This author is someone who can weave in social commentary so beautifully with real life, gore, and small town life. He never misses. Highly recommend. The ending and whodunnit lost .25 for me because it felt not connected. But still, read this book!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Murder, Stalking, Torture, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Violence, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Racism, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

kiragreads's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, Torture, and Gore

bep's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

A compelling story from the perspective of a Black Southern sheriff combatting engrained historical racism and a serial killer case in tandem. I have loved all of S.A. Cosby’s books so far, and this one felt a little darker and harder particularly because of the serial killer’s

Spoiler

abuse of children and the extremely violent methods of murdering some of his associates.

The ending felt a bit rushed to me, but overall a very insightful neo-noir crime novel that I would recommend to anyone who loves this genre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, and Violence

chardkey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

S.A. Cosby does it again.  This gritty tale of race and redemption will keep you up into the night because you don't want to put it down.  Titus Crown is the first black sheriff in a small southern town in Virginia.   Although this is the town where he grew up, he has never felt more like an outsider   when a school shooting occurs on his 1 year anniversary, he is thrust into a wicked plot and sets out to catch a killer.  This book does not disappoint and will leave you wanting more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Murder, Racism, and Torture

bookishcori's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

I’ll start with what I loved: the way Cosby writes about his home and a sense of place, about complicated people and families, about masculinity, about the underbelly of rural Virginia and the overt racism. The writing itself is truly top notch. Also the scene with Titus and his brother on the porch near the end was 😭. 

Hearing an interview where Cosby shared how he chooses to write crime/thrillers that seamlessly weave in “issues” that folks may otherwise not engage with makes sense and he excels at this. It never feels forced - you know how some authors throw in random hot button topics and it is irrelevant? Not here, because he’s writing from a Southern Black man’s experience and this is reality. 

But here’s the thing, I used to consume a lot of gory serial killer and police procedural media and I no longer like these storylines. This was…too much. Sociopaths, pedophilia, violence against children, flayed and tortured bodies. 🤢 The saving grace here was that all the other aspects of the story were compelling. 

If you like law and order: svu, silence of the lambs, or that James Patterson book turned movie about kidnapped girls held in a basement dungeon, check this out. You’ll get more substance with the shock value. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Pedophilia, Racism, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Murder, and Child death

faerietale_princess's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

This is a fantastic novel. Cosby knocks it out of the park.

Titus is a layered, complex character. He is consumed by guilt and tries to compensate for it. In doing so, he kind of loses track of what he really wants in life.

Cosby’s writing in this one is top-notch. The literary devices, themes, and structure are as layered as Titus.

You’ll see many parallels in Titus’ life, as well as vivid imagery and robust themes.

There were a couple of times where I felt adding a line or two would’ve really enhanced the story via callbacks. Sometimes some things kind of felt unimportant, but they were brought up again way later. This makes it feel a bit out of left field.

However, this only happened once or twice max in the whole novel. It did not take away from my enjoyment at all.

This is an incredibly thought-provoking book with plenty of things to discover and discuss. If I were an English professor teaching a class about literary devices, I would use this book.

If you like books that make you think, you may enjoy this.

If you like Criminal Minds, you may enjoy this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Child death

Minor: Racism