Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

36 reviews

igroswell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

So, to me, this was everything I want in a thriller. Never knew where it was going, plot twist after plot twist that I couldn’t predict. Absolutely fabulous writing. I loved the way the author described things, it really helped you picture what was going on. There are heavy themes in this book, and some of it very graphic. I definitely recommend reading the content warnings before starting it, but if you are okay with the content and love mysteries/thrillers, you’ll love this. It also presents strong female characters which I always love to see. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit and Dementia

11shazen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

thepurplepeep's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting

chelle22's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kferrari's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

lampbee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I can’t tell if i loved or hated this book. It’s very violent in its depictions, at some point it felt needless or even voyeuristic? I didn’t like that element of it especially given the whole plot of the book. The premise I feel was solid and I liked the execution it was just a lot more grim with a lot less payoff than I expected. However I liked the development and the twists not being predictable/trite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

The description of Lydia getting

waterboarded with paul’s piss

was a bit intense to the point of me not being sure what the purpose was. Obviously to show

that Paul is evil/irredeemable and is willing to sexually abuse Claire’s sister

but it felt gratuitous. The same I feel could be said for the description of the photos

I understand that gore was required to get their heinous crimes across but the description of the mutilated and cleaved girl hanging from barn rafters while blood-soaked and fully erect men posed for a photo was a lot to take in and I wonder how much detail was required to get the point across

. Maybe I just prefer for rape culture to be referenced or described on a more nuanced level and something of this level wasn’t going to hit — but at very least there can be no debate over whether the crime was “all that bad”. I will say though, I’m probably not the only one, by the end of the book

I was hoping Paul would have to endure some of the torture he doled out. He kept Julia alive for two weeks, I would’ve liked to see him have to endure something of that caliber not a strained but quick death in a forest.

I’m very uninterested in women not stooping to their attackers level , they need to get even, idc.

hannahchung's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

taitestrasner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

i really don’t know how to feel. SUCH a page turner, it was so hard for me to put this down, & when i did, i couldn’t stop thinking about it. my faults with this book, though, are that i feel like it was too gruesome. i feel like 50+ pages of disgusting, gory details could’ve been left out and we still would have gotten the same story. it was a LOT and personally a heavy read for me. i LOVE crime/mystery/murder books, but at some points this was a really hard read for me. other than that, i loved the story! so insane, some of the plot twists had be audibly screaming through out the whole chapter. if you can handle gore, this is definitely for you!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

loudonuts's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.0

a gruesome story that was ultimately about the bond between sisters. it didn’t exceed my expectations but it was an okay thriller. at the beginning the hyper descriptive violence was shocking and intense, but by the end of it, it felt pretty gratuitous. was the aim to desensitise me, or was it just bad at keeping me engaged? unfortunately i’m not sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Infidelity

vadarraga's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Very intense plot, had to put it down and process without getting triggered. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment