Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

22 reviews

kshertz's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a great read! It kept me reading, I was very intrigued. I couldn’t wait to see how it all unfolded. I couldn’t guess who it was and don’t think it’s guessable. There’s a ton of twists and turns. The only reason it’s not a 5 star rating is because it started to feel like twists for no reason and over the top at one point. The ending didn’t totally feel like the vindication I was going for. But still super satisfying and intriguing and I couldn’t put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Child abuse, Death, and Violence

librarianlirael's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Murder, Medical content, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Addiction, and Cancer

calicat42's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

The structure was creative—a fun twist on the who dunnit genre.  At the start of the book, there’s no real information about what has happened, so instead of knowing what will happen and watching the characters figure it out, the reader only gets to know as much as the characters. Hard to put a book like that down! 

Although I fell in love with the structure, the content left me wanting a little. There were times where the plot moved quickly because the twists and turns were coming in every line. Yet there were times where I wished I could have read in x2 speed to move things along. I think this just comes to my preferences regarding mysteries; I don’t want to take my foot off the gas once the plot picks up! 

Overall, I enjoyed the read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Stalking, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: War

sophcart_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Minor: Violence

christygsp's review against another edition

4.5

Honestly, this book was a dark horse for me! I didn’t expect to make it past 40 pages but I was in from start to finish. 
The layout of reading correspondence and other documents was done very well, and I kept want to read just one more email. Though I will say that while I was waiting for an actual murder to happen, I did get a bit impatient. 
The way this mystery was unravelled was clever, intriguing and kept my brain working all through. When I had a theory, something new came up and shook it. At the end I was half right and half wrong, which led to a great mic drop reveal!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Violence, Death, and Bullying

tpasta's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape, Violence, and War

isabellalinares's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

It was such a fun read and the format was exciting. A great change of pace. Loved taking notes while reading to try and figure it all out. 

I've already recommended it to so many people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, Death, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Cancer, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, and Toxic friendship

alywise's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

I really like when books feel like nothing has happened, and then all of the sudden a bombshell drops and you realize stuff has been happening the whole time! This felt like… like Liane Moriarty meets Agatha Christie. I was left with some loose ends (who the actual f was Jackie Marsh? Did she ever get her passport back?), but mostly felt like the author gave appropriate closure and answers, without spoon feeding it to the reader. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Death, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Rape, Terminal illness, and Mental illness

Minor: Murder, Violence, Vomit, War, Suicide, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Medical content, Abandonment, Eating disorder, and Domestic abuse

rachelizx's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Addiction, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Violence, and Medical content

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I can't say too much about this book plot-wise because honestly I feel like you're better off going into it a bit blind the way that I did. However, of course, there's a synopsis available if you do wanna read it, I can't tell you what to do. I'm the boss of me, not you.

What I can tell you is that this is a murder mystery wherein you are provided texts, emails, and other bits of evidence for the case and are basically meant to solve it alongside the two young lawyers, Femi and Charlotte. I loved how this book was written *so* much. I'm nosey, so I loved the feel of reading people's emails and snooping around their shit. Plus, I really enjoyed actively trying to solve the mystery. I broke my tabs out, I got out my pen and my journal, and got to work. I simply had the best time. I can't BELIEVE that this is a debut novel. This author is a total auto-buy for me from here on out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Murder, Medical content, Mental illness, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Body horror, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Misogyny, Stalking, Excrement, Rape, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Vomit