Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Groomer by Jon Athan

48 reviews

leahlovesbirds's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

michelletapp's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

hkcorley's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

0.25

This is the most fucked up book I have ever read in my life. TW: everything!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

very detailed descriptions of sexual acts happening to kids

bookabook84's review against another edition

Too graphic and couldn't stop thinking about the horrific details. Writing good but its too much 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

acalla7's review against another edition

I NEVER back out of a book because I can’t handle it, but chapter 3 was just too much… I don’t want to know what the rest of this book has in store after that. I’m good on this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

breanaueltzen's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kayleigh_ann97's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

nyallis0n's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

nikrib's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Well… where to begin… This book is definitely not for everyone and falls into the splatterpunk genre. This narrative was difficult to get through for a while, given the topics and themes, but after the specific chapters (you’ll know when you read them) it’s all more of a vengeful narrative from there on out and less splatterpunk shocking. The story felt a tad like an extreme horror thriller, following the protagonist on his journey. The characters aren’t relatable, for obvious reasons, but the author does try to get the reader to feel the dark decent of the protagonist as he tries to find his daughter. Some reviews state that the actions of the protagonist are too extreme, but I’m sure there are parents out there that can somewhat feel the agony of the protagonist. Also, there’s been studies and articles depicting the brokenness psychologically a person can go through when incident/crimes like these occur, so following along with the protagonist’s decent and psychological break was intense. 

This book’s topic is taboo to even mention amongst each other, much like cannibalism, but I believe this narrative can be seen as eye opening to naive people that don’t understand the grand scale, vastness, or frequency of these types of crimes. I wouldn’t say I “like” the story (that would be strange way to put it) but it did what it was meant to, scare, disgust, and shock. Similar to why people go to haunted houses or spooky events, to get scared, shocked, etc. 

My only qualm is that the author uses redundant descriptive verbiage to build scenes, it can get a tad annoying. Overall, solid story, not for the faint of heart or those with many “triggers”. Venture into this book with caution, it is splatterpunk genre after all. The epilogue at the end is a quick excerpt by the author and was interesting to get their take on the process and the book as a whole.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol

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