Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Pacjentka by Alex Michaelides

180 reviews

dariosanrdz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.75

Omg, what a book.

I really liked the story, the characters, everything. It is a book that keeps you hooked until you finish it.

I did not expect the final plot twist with Theo being the one who tried to stab Alicia and Gabriel being Kathy’s lover, that blew my mind.

I really liked the dynamics between the characters, how the connections are made, the stories that lead to complete Alicia’s story.

Honestly, I am giving this a 4.75 because at one point I felt the book was more about detectives than therapists and psychiatrists on a psych ward, if not for that, it would ve a solid 5 star for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder

chloe_silk1810's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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? Yes

5.0

The plot twist is unreal! Read in a day you won't be disappointed!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Self harm, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

micaelacccc's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident and Death of parent

sammytheweirdo0's review against another edition

The phycologist is addicted to marijuana. No. Just no.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

dhatrii's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

aurora_454's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

sarahmmichael's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Car accident

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

drjoannehill's review against another edition

sad 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? Yes

2.0

Meh. Really boring for the most part and the twist was mildly stirring. Coming very soon after reading All The Little Raindrops which was tense and involved, this just fell really flat. I felt like it was giving me a poor attempt at a lecture about psychoanalysis.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Minor: Addiction

lindasoderlundd's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

_pauline's review against another edition

dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

I‘m a little torn bc I love the premise & the alternating perspectives with the diary + it kept me guessing - everything a good thriller needs (though it’s more about finding out what already happened than acutely tense/dangerous situations); but there were a lot of plot holes & side plots that didn’t really lead to anything:

• Max assaulting Alicia + Tanya being afraid of him
• Paul borrowing money/lying + attacking Theo bc he “thought he was a burglar“
• Gabriel not believing Alicia ab her stalker (great husband constantly gaslighting her)
• Jean-Felix acting strange 

Am I missing sth or was the sole purpose of all that to make them unlikeable so we’d suspect them? 

• Alicia being “drugged out of her mind“ after attacking Elif, yet perfectly able to talk 
• police didn’t find any evidence of Alicia having been tied to a chair, including the wounds on her ankles? it’s explicitly mentioned she was bleeding from the wire cutting into her
• her “indecipherable“ diary (paragraphs in different directions, connected by arrows, covered by drawings) - presented as a perfectly coherent story. Ig the former was supposed to depict her insanity & the latter to keep it readable - but still: could’ve been achieved differently
• where did the gun in the kitchen cabinet go? and did Theo know where the glasses were from stalking them through the window?
• why would Alicia talk to Theo out of all people?

HOWEVER a lot of that might be excused bc

the narrators being unreliable is a major plot point

; and it didn’t keep me from enjoying the story.
 

Right from the beginning, I was unsure how Theo’s 2 storylines (The Grove & Kathy) were related time-wise - whether they really took place simultaneously - as well as how they‘d tie together; + Theo being the stalker quickly became an obvious possibility - but sth always kept me guessing. I‘m just not sure if that’s a good thing or the result of loose ends

Not my favourite thriller but still good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, and Vomit