Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Groomer by Jon Athan

8 reviews

rainbowdrank's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

1.0

What did I just read? 

This book is awful, from the subject matter to the writing. All the stuttering and stammering was annoying, there were huge plot holes, typos galore and it was over-the-top graphic. 

I had trouble finishing this one but had to just to see how it ended. Wish I had never started it though.

Very, very, very graphic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cjmyers90's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? N/A

3.5

Extremely difficult to consume. But I feel like that’s the point. There are plenty of lessons to be learned from this book.

 These things happen. We hear the stories of kids going missing.. We see the articles.. But having it written out in graphic detail adds a different level of awareness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

chefinheels's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• 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

I read The Groomer, Into the Wolves Den, and The Abuse of Ashley Collins over the last two days. I've seen quite a few posts about Jon Athan in varying thriller groups, and wanted to give any help I could to those still on the fence.

Are these books gory, and graphic? Yes. If you have a TW, just don't read them. Whatever your particular trigger, it's probably in here somewhere. I can give details if you need them, as some people's triggers are über specific, but otherwise, just assume it's rough.

Do you know what else they are? Crushingly, unapologetically, brutally emotional. An intense study of the naïveté of a child. The unending will to survive of a child. The unfathomable love of a parent. The abyss that is the hatred of a parent.

If you can handle splatterpunk, and if you can handle the severe reality of child abuse, in multiple forms, these books are ones that will stick with you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

dee_elizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

This book makes every other piece of horror media (books and movies) I've seen look like blue's clues. Like holy shit it's graphic. The content warning was serious. Things get real bad in chapter 3 and go on for awhile. The beginning is like the movie Hostel but involving torturing kidnapped kids. I expected this book to be like the movie Taken, but the second half is more like I Spit On Your Grave. I hated basically every second of it.

vivalahelios's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, and Stalking

shamwow2000's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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

5.0

The Groomer is a fantastic, brutally real look into the world of child predators. 
I’m not normally a fan of Rape-Revenge stories, because of their exploitative nature. However, this book tackled the genre without ever feeling exploitative of the child victims. The descriptions of violence were satisfyingly (and sometimes horrifyingly) graphic.
Jon Athan managed to depict truly despicable acts while never slipping into the realm of exploitation or torture porn. 
I highly recommend this book to any extreme horror fan. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Slavery

lisa_butler79's review against another edition

dark informative tense fast-paced

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

5.0

The Groomer - Jon Athan

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Started 28/6/2022
Finished 30/6/2022

Im deeply ashamed to say I so enjoyed this book even though my brain was screaming what the fuck are you reading.

This is one of the most horrific, dark, shocking books I have ever read but I couldn't put it down. In fact that's a lie, I had to rest between chapters to give my head and heart a break.

The first couple of chapters were horrific, I did actually think I actually can't read anymore but I wanted to know what the dad did when his girl went missing and his point of view had me gripped because I actually could feel his pain and torment and know if I was in this situation I would easily do the same.

As a parent I'm aware of the dangers of the Internet but after  reading this I actually realised how naive I am to the dark world of the Internet and I for one took a huge lesson from this book. For that I'm grateful.

I wouldn't recommend this book to all because of the content of the book it really isn't for the Faint hearted but the topic Is real. This is actual real life and is happening out there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail