Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Pacjentka by Alex Michaelides

290 reviews

sapphirestorm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

I usually figure out thrillers ahead of time, but this one had even me fooled- definitely worth a read. I actually said "WHAT THE F***" out loud at one point!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

lianathereader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Car accident

beccalillian's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Stalking

Minor: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment

addisonpatrice's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

3.5

I listened to the audiobook, and it was definitely a chilling and unexpected story with engaging characters. However, with all of the suspense-building and various characters with odd motives around it left a lot of loose threads.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

kris_tea516'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? Yes

2.0

Well…I read this book. I don’t know what to say about it. I had so much hope for it due to so many recommendation lists & people talking about an “unexpected big twist” at the end. 😑 Maybe a lot of people don’t see it coming but my guess from the very beginning turned out to be correct. For me, it just seemed very predictable from the very beginning. I can see why a lot of people do like this book but I just felt very disappointed after it being hyped up so much. I guess my expectations were just too high. 

I also had gotten the impression from I don’t know where, that this story might have a paranormal explanation & with “the big twist” being so hyped up, I kept thinking something like a ghost or something was going to pop up but…nope. So, if you do read this book, just know, nothing paranormal happens. 

I’m also not thrilled with the ending. It could have been so much more interesting but just fell flat to me. 

There were also some, in my opinion, some lazy use of tropes & lots of holes/mistakes. They could have been made a lot better with the right editor or from spending a bit more time really tightening them up to not be so obvious. 

I had hopes for this book but it just fell flat & seemed too predictable. 

Content warning: 

• language/sex talk (no explicit sex scenes that I remember but a lot of references to sex using derogatory language…imo)
• At least one scene of graphic violence 
• Suicide
• Murder
• Gun violence 
• Car wreck
• Child abuse
• Childhood trauma & resulting PTSD 
• Infidelity 
• Drug use

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

peytoncoyle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

riverofhorton's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

This book could have been so much. I have a background in Psych, and in theory this should have been something I really enjoyed.

But I just didn't. Even if we ignore the boundary breaking going on by the Psychotherapist, he still doesn't act like a Psychotherapist let alone one that had been working at Broadmoor for ~5 years.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

crystalsparkles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Murder

dawndiscusses's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Self harm, Car accident, and Suicide attempt