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amsswim's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
This was incredibly violent and graphic, so I'd recommend reading warnings before starting.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Dementia, Car accident, and Classism
Minor: Cannibalism
ellilo's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
I hate saying i enjoyed this because it’s not a nice topic to enjoy, but i just love dark and disgusting thriller and horror books. This book had me in a chokehold the past four days, and i barely find time to read so that’s always a good thing about a book for me, fast-paced and packed with adventure so i don’t want to stop reading.
Some of the turns in the story were weird and from the beginning you already know that the guy is bad, but you don’t know about the extent of the cruelty. That was weird for me because i’m used to not knowing who the killer is, in this book it was rather the question who you can trust and what’s the truth.
The ending made me cry, but i have to be honest and i feel really weird saying this:
I heard this book was SO disgusting and graphic, and of course, there were some scenes that made me a bit uncomfortable but i’ve read worse. I don’t think that it’s the description that makes it disgusting, but rather the topic.
I still enjoyed this book! It wasn’t as cruel as i thought it would be and at the same time it was worse. But in a good way.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Excrement, Vomit, Dementia, Car accident, and Alcohol
alicenonsense's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, and Gaslighting
Minor: Pedophilia and Dementia
thatswhatshanread's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Claire and Lydia, estranged sisters brought back together by another tragedy, embark on a journey almost twenty-five years old as new clues come to light about their older sister, Julia, who went missing when she was nineteen and was never found. Nothing is as it seems as present begins to connect rather ominously with the past.
This was my first Karin Slaughter book and man, did it deliver. It’s definitely a very dark book that seems to get darker with each shocking turn, not shying away from grisly facts or chilling thoughts. The writing was intense, fast-paced, evocative. Slaughter’s words made the story so vivid and realistic, my heart pounding the whole way through as if I were one of Julia’s sisters, too.
If you’re a fan of Gillian Flynn, you’ll also devour this one. I found their writing styles quite similar and engaging.
I loved the way this story played out, the different story arcs that came to fruition. Of course, the subject matter is even more sinister then you’d imagine out the gate, but it was used so well in this one.
I suspect I will be thinking of this book for a long time!!
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Dementia, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Body horror
erica_reads_things's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Fatphobia, Dementia, and Classism
abbymackenzie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
taylers's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexual content, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Car accident
Graphic descriptions of rape, torture, murder, and mutilation.triple_m's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I’ll start with the cons because there are few: The chapters written to Julia from the dad can drag. Not even because they’re boring but the chapters with Claire and Lydia are so interesting that you’re tempted to skip ahead. And this is petty, but
This book is very graphic, which for me is a good thing, I enjoy novels with graphic content. That being said, the only graphic books I have read have been written by men and I don’t know if I can ever go back. It’s hard for me to describe but I could just tell this book was written by a woman (big positive). The moment you think the situation couldn’t get any more deprived, it does.
Claire and Lydia are both arguably shitty people, or do put it tastefully I would say they’re both complex and flawed characters. They’ve experienced a significant amount of trauma so it makes sense that they’ve had a difficult time adjusting to life.
Loved the book and was very satisfied with the ending.
Graphic: Body horror, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug abuse and Suicide
Minor: Body shaming and Dementia
perplexed's review against another edition
- 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
2.25
I will say now that there might be some spoilers in this review, and I'll flag them, but proceed with caution. Also TW: I reference SA and violence in this review
There were elements of this book I loved. The whole idea of "how well do you really know someone" is a trope I love to see explored, and this book started off doing that really well. I also really loved the main characters, Claire and Lydia, and part of the reason I finished the book was because I wanted to make sure they got out of their shenanigans okay.
That being said, so much of this book felt like gratuitous detail. I get that you want to make it clear how brutal something is, but you could get that without needing to graphically describe acts of SA and torture. I love body horror and gore, but the repeated graphic descriptions were *a lot* and I really recommend giving this book a skip if you're effected by any of the trigger warnings mentioned on these reviews.
Also, shout out to the fact that either Claire or Karin Slaughter thinks that TOR is an illegal file sharing site. Very much legal, it's just a browser like Google Chrome but it doesn't track you, so I think TOR is actually the real good guy in this book.
PS. Dad if you're reading this hello, please don't judge me for the books I've been reading recently, I've been on a kick of gross books ever since American Psycho but none seem to scratch the itch of violence with a message and they've all just landed on gratuitous violence instead :-( onto a Christmas romance novel next though so, bet you can't wait for that review!
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
izypup's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Vomit, Dementia, Trafficking, Stalking, Car accident, and Alcohol
Minor: Infertility and Pregnancy