Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Billy Summers by Stephen King

99 reviews

melaniejmuller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

hdancy_14's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-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

1.0

The characters themselves are interesting but what King chose to write, how he chose to write it, makes me immensely dislike him. You don’t get awards for having empathy for assaulted women, or for not hitting on girls 20 years younger than you, that’s just basic human existing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Murder, and War

Moderate: Pedophilia

abernathy_33's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Pedophilia, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, and Vomit

jojom77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Rape, Violence, and War

Minor: Child abuse

madalina0_0's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, and War

avasbookmark's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Rape, Murder, and War

nikrib's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

alicebass25's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

sueking365's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful 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

5.0

Audio (and highly recommended in this media-the voice actor does just enough of a vocal change for each character to help you track the speaker but not enough to take you out of the story). 
I haven’t read Stephen King in a minute (or perhaps in many, many years). As a youth I read everything he wrote: the scarier the better. Then came The Tommyknockers and I was out. I’ve read Misery and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, both of which I loved, but I’ve avoided all other King content until someone highly recommended this audio book to me. 
Billy Summers is a hit man about to take on his final assignment and then he’s retiring. Things go sort of as expected…until they don’t. I was completely blindsided by a major plot change but ultimately I enjoyed the direction that the story took after that. There is a “book within a book” device, as Billy is an Iraqi war vet who joined the Marines after spending years in a foster home, and he decided to bide his time by writing his story. There are also some Easter eggs that call back to King’s other stories (big ones from one of his high-profile novels, possibly others which I didn’t catch). 
I really enjoyed this book and can report that this is not a horror novel in anyway. 
Content warning: rape, intense war scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Gun violence

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

This mostly character based crime story about a former army sniper hit man is surprisingly quite charming and tender in some aspects, tense, hard boiled and action packed in others. Excellent read. I’m glad this is my first Stephen King. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

There’s child death, rape, various abuses and war throughout the story as key elements. There’s also a pedophile that’s a target in the story. They share base information about his heinous acts to fully condemn him. This is a crime story so many characters are unsavoury in varying ways. I may have missed some triggers.