Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

453 reviews

janiceo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, and Child death

killmoore_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I'm without words.

Best book I have read all year, and in the top 5 for all time. I cannot express how much I loved this book. 

It will make you feel all the things, drop you on your skull and do it all over again. 10/10 will be recommending to anyone who enjoys the genre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Stalking, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Torture

billie_the_book_babe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, Child abuse, Torture, Physical abuse, Suicide, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

awelsh's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Child death

peoplecallmeteresa's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Violence, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

hxlleann's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal cruelty

_suvi_'s review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was a really tense, yet very interesting read. The author is smart in her way of writing

Spoiler

because in the beginning, I was sure that at least Lauren was just a figment of Ted’s imagination. But the more the story progressed the more I was
convinced that he’s actually Lulu’s kidnapper.

The way the writing instills atmosphere of Ted is just sucking you in, with the unrealiability of his narration, the changing of his surroundings, and the way he and the other characters see the world in different ways. Even though I enjoyed this thriller, there were some parts of it that were so unbelievable that it broke my immersion. And most of the unbelievability came funnily enough fron Dee’s character.

Spoiler

like moving right next to him was already a stretch, but the ability to watch him constantly, how she even found about him etc. Especially the way Lulu died, Dee’s death, even the way Trevor appeared just seemed very haphazard and way too convenient for a book with so much insight and hidden stories

I appreciate that the author did so much research on the topic, but for me personally it just fell a bit from great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

exitmovement's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

bellebookcorner's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This is one of the hardest book to review if I wanted to make this remain a spoiler-free one but I’ll try my best here.

What I can say is the twist at the end was totally unexpected, while I have my own theories and suspicions the twist still manage to surprise me! 

But to be honest, at first I had difficulties in following the plot. 
I was so close to just stop and put this book down but, one of the POVs (Dee) really help me get a sense of what’s happening and put the puzzle pieces together. 
So, I keep on reading in hope the answer will be worth the confusion. Suffice to say, I’m feeling quite satisfied with how it ends. 

I admit the author did a really great job in researching about the topic she wanted to share in this story. I finally get to understand this book better after reading the afterword.

I have mixed feelings about this book. 
At first it was quite boring because I was confused with where this story is going for quite a while, until the last few chapters make me change the way I view this book. 
The key to read this book is to be patient and try to enjoy following through this confusing and dark psychological thriller story until the answer was revealed at the end.

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: Child abuse, mental illness, child death, animal death, suicide

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death and Suicide

ivy123's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

This novel has multiple layers and is impossible to describe without spoiling anything. Overall this blends genres between horror, thriller and at times contemporary. Rather than bring focused on scares it centres around greif, regret and the comsequences of trauma. 

Although not what i would usually read I would highly recommend to others to give it a try as i really appreciate how it was written. The authors note as mentioned in other reviews is a must read after you have finished. At times it did seem like too many reveals at once rather than one big reveal but overall a well written and thought provoking book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Self harm, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and Mental illness

Minor: Pedophilia