Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia

52 reviews

avisreadsandreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Sadly, this book doesn't work: the writing is clunky, the main character never felt authentic to me, the setup (of her working with the cops) doesn't make any sense, and many of the things she does don't either (she's also constantly getting drunk and hardly sleeps, so maybe her terrible judgement is not that surprising). But the worse part is that we're told who the killer is in the middle of the book and everything that happens after that makes even less sense...

Other reviewers claim the killer was foreshadowed early in the book, but I thought the reveal came out of nowhere.

And then the ending is such a letdown. Ugh. I really wanted to like this book so much, but really I should have DNFed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Infidelity and Stalking

mcmanifold's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

The worst mystery I have ever read. The authors need to “foreshadow” at the end of chapters was frustrating. The main character was a bad detective. The book explicitly spoiled the murderer less than a third into the book.  Most of the “investigation” work goes absolutely no where and is boring.

The only saving grace is that the chapters were short and the prose was straightforward, so it was a fast read. Would have DNF’d it if not reading for a book club.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Murder

katlynann's review against another edition

felt like i was playing a video game and just going place to place it was so weird? it felt cheesy and just bad i hated everything 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

iridescentdreams's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

filmcritic23's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Murder

pkprouvs's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual assault

amichelle515's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Murder

le_mur's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Police brutality, and Grief

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

captainsillypants's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual assault and Kidnapping

hailstorm3812's review

dark mysterious 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

3.75

This has such great characters and vibes that it carries it through a lackluster mystery. I love Louise and her friends and journey, and the rich painting the author set. I do wish structurally the second half had gotten another editing pass. It started to feel like things were just happening without adding more to the mystery or raising the stakes.

I really don't think Celia had to die. Louise was already desperate to stop him and on to him, and didn't need extra motivation and her ouiji plan was so odd. I feel like we set up some mystery around Celia's boy and Josie's disappearances and her original kidnapping that we were going to play into but didn't. I think kidnapping one or both of the twins would have been better to up the stakes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Death of parent and Alcohol