Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

163 reviews

nadyy_p'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, and Murder

courtthelionberryann's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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 wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this one at first because it just reminded me so much of Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera that I read this summer that I couldn’t feel invested. But by the midway point I was hooked and all of the ridiculous small town drama sunk its claws into me. I had guessed a bunch of the major reveals but that didn’t hinder me from enjoying bingeing this fast-paced thriller. My only complaint is that I wish there had actually been podcast elements in this book, considering that one of the main characters is a podcaster! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity

simplyammee's review against another edition

mysterious tense

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Gun violence, Rape, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Vomit and Medical content

For anyone who needs info on the rape trigger

it's statutory rape that the author makes clear the MC initiated. Still SR obviously but it's not on page, only mentioned historically and isn't violent. About as consensual as SR can be (a 15 year old who asks the guy to buy her beer can't properly consent but again the MC seeks the guy out and initiated)

meg1241's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.5

The story is good, but the book has so much filler. I feel like 1/4 of the book could've been cut out, without taking away from the storyline. 

There are definitely twists in the book, but there are so many that it's almost hard to realize what is going on at times. 

Nonetheless, it's worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Outing, and Abandonment

kmbaker09's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

bergie99's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

kshertz's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Oooh this was a good mystery! I didn’t see anything coming even though I definitely should have. To be fair, the narrator is super unreliable. Unfortunately for me the character I most relate to ends up being so evil. Nothing is as it seems. You can’t stop and have to stay up late to see how it ends. This small town and the woods are a lot more complex than they seem! Would have been 5 stars but the romance is closed door which made me very mad 😬

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

xx_coco's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

2.0

Naomi, Olivia, and Cassidy emerge from the woods one day after a terrible tragedy, leaving one of them on the brink of death and their friendship effectively broken. Roughly twenty years later, the girls are pulled back together by the crime that shook their small town and changed their lives forever. The man responsible for Naomi's near death that summer so many years ago is dead, a serial killer finally brought to justice. Or was he? A decades old secret will bring darkness to the town once again as Naomi searches for the truth they all did their damndest to bury and forget. 

My biggest criticism with any thrillers/mysteries has to be how effectively they can set up and execute a plot twist, closely followed by how much I come to care for the characters in the thick of the turmoil. The first 1/2 to 3/4 of this book was sluggish to get through. There was a lot of setup establishing who these girls were when they were the target of an attempted murder at 11 years old that didn't necessarily help further the story. It simply could have been pared down. I did get a good idea of who they were in the present day and how tenuous their ties had become over the years as they distanced themselves from their trauma. Kate Alice Marshall did a great job illustrating how the way we perceive things as children can be inaccurate and heavily influenced by those around us. Sometimes as an adult it requires heavy work to understand situations from the past, especially traumatic ones. 

I was able to give a good guess early on as to what the girls lied about, though I didn't fully realize until the last 1/4 of the story where exactly it was going. There were too many plot twists in a short amount of time and though they all tied the details together I would have preferred if smaller clues/details were peppered throughout the earlier parts of the story. It felt rushed and a bit chaotic as the pieces slotted into place for Naomi. I enjoyed the overall idea for this book, though it did lean a bit into what I imagine the authors YA work is like. The story read a bit juvenile for an adult thriller. Maybe I just wanted it to have a bit more edge. I did think it was smart to interweave two crimes together and this aspect of the book was handled very well; it was my favorite part of the reading experience.

Naomi was by far my favorite character in a cast of fairly unlikeable characters. Even the ones who on paper should have seemed unthreatening definitely had some skeletons hiding in their closets. Her portrayal felt accurate to what a child victim would have gone through growing up with their own trouble at home, trying to move on after a horrible attack, and navigating unhealthy coping mechanisms on top of it all. I was rooting for her to find some form of closure and healing in the end. She had her moments where I was insanely frustrated by her decisions, but it was all in line with her character. 

I don't envy thriller writers because I don't know that I could orchestrate a plot twist very well or write a solid mystery myself, and if I did try then it would probably take a long time. So I commend every thriller author for their plotting. This read ended up being middle of the road for me. While it kept me guessing at the end it was more out of the sheer amount of information being thrown at me than it was the way it was crafted. This one just didn't do it for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

biblouchorr's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment