Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

9 reviews

dkamada's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

clovetra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

i’ve officially read 100 books in 2024 🤯🤯🤯 i am insane.

anyways erm… i didn’t really like this as much as the original!

for one, the threads were a lot harder for me to follow. my ass kept confusing the psychologist with the crime writer with the forensic dude. too many strings that were just surface level.

the connection to an old mystery in this book felt weak, and it was only there for a meta-commentary of “hey look this is what all crime novels do! aren’t i witty breaking the fourth wall and pointing this out?” to include an old case and weave it into the current crime is one thing, but for it to have almost no effect on the story felt like a massive waste of my time.

every side character felt boring. did not give a flying fart about anyone other than the psychologist and lisa. and that’s only cuz i Love Women (/j im kidding its because they seemed innocent to me). there were so many red herrings to the point that it wasn’t fun anymore. i was just waiting for the reveal.

the explanation of the crime was fair. like i see the connections now it’s pointed out but holy fuck how many working pieces this had…. like props to stevenson for being able to pull off a book with this much shit going on, but it just made me feel fatigued reading it. 

the ending felt rushed, the plot felt as though it was meandering a lot more than the previous instalment, and it felt like a lot of the time people were just pissfarting around. 

ernest was actually insufferable in this book. yes i get his character. i liked it in the first book. here he comes off as pretentious, egotistical, and just downright unlikeable. yes yes insert meta commentary about how this shows just because he’s the narrator doesn’t mean he’s automatically the good guy blah blah blah. i will say this until the cows come home — if you’re metacommentary makes the book boring to read, i don’t give a shit if thematically you wrote the bible, i will not like it.

i really think this is a case where a sequel tries to recreate the joys of the first novel, and instead sets itself up with unrealistic expectations and falls flat. honestly whilst starting this i had plans to read the next instalment, which has just come out. now? i’m gonna be honest and say im almost turned off by this entire series. i might read it closer to december as its a christmas book and so i can say ive finished the ernest cunningham series… but this book was a stinker for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Pedophilia, Stalking, and Car accident

whatmckennareads's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

1.0

Why is this book so popular? I found it ridiculous. The plot was unnecessarily convoluted with too many red herrings and horrible people as characters. I wanted to read this before the first book in the series because this one was due back to the library tomorrow, but I’ll be returning the first book too, because I have no desire to read it after having read this one. Ghastly! (Admittedly, this will only make sense after you read the book.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

k8lynn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

ohgenevieve's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction and Rape

neeeek's review

dark lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

To many buzzwords to fit trends that don't add to the narrative 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Addiction

azalya01's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

I loved this sequel even more than the first book! If you haven't read Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone, the first novel in the Ernest Cunningham series, I highly recommend that you do. 

Stevenson crafted an excellent story that made me both burst out laughing and gasp from suspense on multiple occasions. Stevenson's unique protagonist as a writer who writes about how to write mystery novels is a humorous and charming aspect of the book.

I couldn't put this book down! I really loved how all of these new characters were introduced. They all were fleshed out well and were able to make sense without feeling like the story is just a mess of strangers with confusing backstories. I did feel like the mystery was more confusing this time, so honestly I didn't solve much on my own. The denouement did have to do some heavy lifting to get me to understand everything, but I still enjoyed it. I look forward to what comes next from Benjamin Stevenson!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

thumbeleia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Vomit, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment