Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Der Vollstrecker by Chris Carter

10 reviews

heidi_84's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

remi_san's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? No

5.0

Hooked from page 1. No nonsense and short crisp chapters with cliffhanger.. binge reading this series 😁

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Pedophilia, Rape, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

savage_book_review's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The second Robert Hunter thriller, this book sees the star of the Robebery Homicide Division of the LAPD face crime scenes that even he has never seen the like of before. 

I read this book years ago, and it's definitely the one I remembered best of all of the Chris Carter books I have read (about half the series). The murders in this are particularly memorable in their gruesomeness, and definitely set the tone for the series more than 'The Crucifix Killer' in my opinion. It's certainly not for the squeamish, but where you're looking through the eyes of the detective, the descriptions are objective enough for you to see past the gore to the evidentiary value of the bodies, while simultaneously being subjective enough to evoke an emotional reaction from the reader. It's a very well trodden line.

The plot is clearly well thought out and meticulously paced, taking you through the twists and turns of the investigation and keeping the reader engaged throughout. The eventual reveal of the killer and their motives made sense and it was all to easy to understand, and perhaps even sympathise a little. 

I did find the chapters to be a little too short in this one though; for the most part, it still flows well, but on the occasions where you shift from Robert's POV to that of the killer or another character, it's a bit jolting and you don't get a chance to get into their mindset before it's shifted back again. Similarly, a lot of the chapters end with an exclamation from one of the characters at something they've just seen, or another sort of mini-cliffhanger. It's fine at first, but it does get a little repetitive. And when the cliffhanger is resolved on the very next page, it felt a little pointless after the first couple of times.

I also didn't get as much depth from this one. It sticks pretty closely to investigating the case rather than exploring Robert and Garcia's characters in greater detail, which I feel is still necessary at this early point in the series. There are moments where you get more, but not enough. The last scene is a case in point - it felt like a great opportunity to see a little more of the 'real' Robert, but there just wasn't really anything to it and it left me a bit underwhelmed.

There are trigger warnings a-plenty in here; definitely one to read with the lights on!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Infidelity, Excrement, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

ernareads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Third book by Chris Carter, and I'm still amazed with his writing style. As always, the plot and characters are well written. I love seeing how the partnership between Detective Hunter and Gracia getting more personal. The crimes are as always damn *chef kiss* gory.

Definitely recommended to those who enjoy reading psychological thriller books. But! Before reading, do search up on the trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Murder

_terah_hansen_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

emmaisreadingabook's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying and Vomit

Minor: Suicide and Abortion

mxajlikesbooks'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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Vomit

Minor: Cannibalism

saartjeinwonderbookland's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

hopelessromanticbookworm's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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? No

3.0

I was expecting to finish reading this book tomorrow, but after reading my readalong chapters for today I couldn’t put the book down.

Unfortunately I had to rate this book a 3⭐️ as it had animal cruelty and pedofiler in it. The animal cruelty was detailed and me being an animal lover just couldn’t get the scene out of my head. The pedofiler wasn’t detailed but from what you read you could of guess what happened, especially what the person thought.

However, the crimes itself were gruesome and I enjoyed the investigation. It kept me guessing who the killer was as there was multiple people who could of been the killer.
Robert and Garcia make me laugh so much with her friendship, and especially how Robert is with his lovers. Apart from what I mentioned above I thoroughly enjoyed the book and can’t wait to carry on the series x

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Pedophilia

danni_taylor's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book! It honestly felt like you were playing detective alongside Hunter and his partner, Garcia.

The characters were all great in their own way, they each added something to the story. I liked the relationship between Hunter and Garcia and I think they worked really well together.

I did have my suspicions as to who the killer might be which turned out to be right, and I was super excited. Although, I didn't have an idea until a couple of chapters before it was revealed. Once you know who it is though, you remember the subtle hints throughout the book which I thought was really clever and well done.

Chris Carter is a great author, his writing and descriptions captivate you and you're left wanting more. If you love crime fiction I highly suggest giving this a go. I know I will definitely be reading more of this series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping