Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

No Exit by Taylor Adams

93 reviews

chi_reads3's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer and Racial slurs

tonyaf's review

dark 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? No

3.5

A true page-turner! This is so tense and almost impossible to put down once the plot gets going (and it gets going very quickly). The villain in this is truly despicable and reading some of the things he says and does is so uncomfortable at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty and Vomit

shirleonelsie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I'm conflicted about this book. I really enjoyed it - the plot was exciting, I was left guessing for a lot of it - but...

BUT

The use of the r-slur, n-slur and a chinese-slur (the latter used many times, as the name of a fictional location) colored this book gray for me. While they were all used by a character who - if this was a real person, probably would talk like this - there wasn't a whole lot of explanation or detracting from the other characters in the book. Granted, only the latter mentioned one was said allowed to anyone else but it still felt very shoe-horned in. Like the author took advantage of creating a character who would say these things just so he could say them. And that feels smarmy. 

If it wasn't for those, I honestly think I'd give them a high 4 maybe 5 star rating. If those slurs were used and there was some explanation or backlash from other characters - something that let's me know the author truly understands that the use of those words is NOT OKAY - then maybe, just maybe, I could let it slide. But that isn't how this feels.

(I use other reading apps, so you may see this again!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Use of n-slur, r-slur, and a chinese-slur

bookhails's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Gore, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Trafficking and Death of parent

lizyalife's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse

gaby_readsss's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I read The Last Word earlier this year and loved it, which made me excited to read more of Taylor Adams’ books.
No Exit, however was a bit of a letdown for me.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was very action-packed and I was on edge for the most part, which is a good thing when you’re reading a thriller. However, one thing I really struggled with was the writing. I found some parts to be very problematic. Were the racist slurs and misogynistic jokes really necessary? I get these “jokes” come from one of the villains in this book and we are meant to hate this character, but it made me uncomfortable and it also made question the author to be honest, which is kind of sad because I thought he was a new favorite thriller author when I read The Last Word.

So yeah, this wasn’t a terrible thriller. It had all the expected elements: a girl making irrational decisions, an isolated location, no phone signal, and people being killed by a psychopath. But I was expecting more.

I’m not sure I’ll read more books by this author in the future. 

 
I still don’t know how these people, Sandi, Ashley, and Lars knew each other? Unless I missed it I don’t think it ever gets explained. It was kind of hard to believe all of it and it became a little too much toward the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Torture, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism and Vomit

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Misogyny, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

anuxr's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

Racial slurs were completely unnecessary to the plot. Writing was repetitive. Plot dragged on and on. Was taken out of the story many times. Skip this book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Torture, and Trafficking

Moderate: Racial slurs and Xenophobia

buer's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

Young college student, Darby Thorne, finds herself trapped at a rest stop on her way to say goodbye to her dying mother. After a strange series of events, Darby realizes that there is a kidnapped child in the back of one of the vehicles in the parking lot. She must figure out which of the four strangers at the rest stop is the killer and what she needs to do to save the kidnapped girl. 

I want to like this book - it’s fast-paced, easy to read, and has an overarching theme of a young woman realizing that she is a better, stronger, and more resilient person than she could have ever imagined. Taylor Adams has a simple, visceral writing style that I like and introduces several interesting twists. 

However. Much like one of the characters in this book, Adams feels like the kind of person who knows how to convincingly wear a mask. The mask he has chosen is that he’s the kind of person who believes that women are strong and capable, but considering that he sexualizes every female character in his book with varying degrees of brutality, I’m not convinced. 

I also find it difficult to enjoy a book in which the author goes out of his way to introduce prejudice into the story.  Taylor names an imaginary geographical landmark with a slur. He has a character tell multiple misogynistic jokes and a racist one that involves yet another slur. He uses the r-word and repeatedly references a probably homophobic piece of graffiti that he invented for the bathroom wall at the rest stop. 

Maybe I’m wrong about Taylor, but I can’t recommend this book in good conscience. There are too many moments that got under my skin for reasons that weren’t serving the plot or adding depth to characters.

There are plenty other books that accomplish what this book does without also reeking of ick. Read those instead. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Fatphobia, and Fire/Fire injury

social_eyes's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Violence

Minor: Racial slurs

Truly the most stressful thriller I’ve read yet. I wish it didn’t have the racial slurs in it, did not need it to show the evil of the character.