Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

345 reviews

elsuth's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

karaloyd's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.75

Really well written book but dark. Read the trigger warnings! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

bookishbinks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

wowza, that was intense. and super fucked up. also incredibly heartbreaking.

definitely be mindful of the content warnings before jumping into this one, but in all honesty it didn't seem any better or worse than, like... an episode of criminal minds or law & order. (then again, i did read the slob so maybe i'm just desensitized to reading about violence.)

but the heart of the story is the fractured relationship between two sisters - claire and lydia. i was super invested in both their POVs as they navigated the mystery of their eldest sister's disappearance together. sam's letters to julia broke my heart. the grief and being unable to move on due to lack of closure was done super realistically in this novel.

as for the actual mystery part, it was... meh? as i've stated in other reviews, i am (unfortunately) incredibly good at predicting things so 60% of the plot twists i had pretty much already guessed, but again, i was really intruiged by claire and lydia's story together, so that really kept me frantically page-turning to see what would happen next.

overall, i really enjoyed this book. the graphic violence against women was a little excessive though, i'll admit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

bezzzzza's review against another edition

dark 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? No

2.0

Way too graphic for me. Proceed with caution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

itscaitlinkane's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

tanacef's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

Graphic story. There wasn’t a trigger warning at the start of the book, but it could have used one. I thought the mystery was intriguing, but it was long. I listened 100% on audio and tuned out/fell asleep at times. It was a 3.75 for me, but I was sobbing during Part VII imagining my son all grown up and not needing me anymore, so my heart gave this 4 stars for making me feel something.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Fatphobia

Minor: Dementia

lorenmarie7's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-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

3.5

Floppy disks but also a Taylor Swift song reference? I am confused on when this takes place. Also very graphic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

lgstanfield's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

lizziemarie01's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

sannesbooks's review against another edition

dark tense 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

4.25

This was very good. It start slow with character devlopment in a more literary fiction way. After about 100 pages the thriller part starts and you are hooked. This is a true page-turner. 

This story is absolutely horriffic, gruesome, and dark. Definitely not for the faint of heart! I was triggered multiple times and I am not easily triggered in the wsy this book triggered me. So, this is definitely a book you should consider carefully, and you need to be in the right mindset to read this.

The fact that you don't know who to trust gives the story another scary element. 
I loved reading about the sister dynamic. 

The story is told from the POVs of two sisters, and the diary from their dad. The diary was not super interesting to me.
The ending wasn't my favorite. It felt a bit sloppily finished. But for the rest this was an amazing thriller and I would recommend it to anyone who can handle dark thrillers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicide, Stalking, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Infidelity