Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

A corrente by Adrian McKinty

4 reviews

gwenswoons's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Holy fuck this was so good. It’s been a while since I have read a thriller so totally addictive and masterfully crafted and I could NOT get enough. This was in the category of The Last Housewife and others like that for me, just totally gripping faves I will remember for a long time! I found myself listening to it for hours at home — I’m usually an audiobook reader on my  drives to commute to and from work, and on regular longer drives in and out of town, so when I can’t stop listening even at home I know I’m totally absorbed.

I’m so impressed by a book that both makes its characters do terrible things and makes us root for them anyway. The villain characters are SO FUN in addition to being monstrous and I thought all of the self-referential philosophical and academic nuggets just added to the humor.

January LaVoy is completely amazing narrating the audio — I have loved her work many times before but the disguised voice and all the different characters in this one were SO great and so scary.

It’s so fantastic and also truly grisly. Every possible trigger warning.

I saw some of the turns coming (not way far away, and not in an unpleasant way) but still was TOTALLY thrilled at the dénouement (like, a package got delivered and my dog started barking and I almost passed out from sudden terror  🤣), and thought the pacing of the book was so effective overall. I cannot WAIT to read more Adrian McKinty!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

madanxiety's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

Not my usual taste, but it's gripping. I liked how everything slowly came together, and how it wasn't too easy to figure out what was gonna happen next.

This may be the most disturbing book I've ever read. No, actually, I've read Night by Elie Wiesel and a few different narratives of formerly enslaved people. Maybe it's the most disturbing fiction book I've ever read. That doesn't say a whole lot since I know there are much more disturbing books--I'm of the mind that there are too many real-life horrors to stomach fictional ones too. For that reason, I was going to quit the book halfway through, which I don't think I've ever done, if

the little girl died from anaphylaxis

. But that didn't happen, so I trucked on. 

I'm skeptical about the implications of these kind of books in the same way that I'm skeptical of the true crime genre. I think these things sensationalize interpersonal violence and organized crime, weaving these horrific-yet-juicy narratives that ultimately (1) distract from the state-sanctioned violence that's infinitely more rampant in the US and the world at large, and (2) teach the common people to be fearful of each other,  squashing our ability to build trusting community support networks. 

I'd have given it 5 stars if it was a more explicit commentary

on corruption in law enforcement/FBI/etc. Instead, especially due to the focus on Ginger and Ollie's traumatic and disturbing childhoods, the book is more localized--"these specific people are crazy evil villains," not "these people reflect the normalized abuse of power and resources that takes place in America law enforcement and justice systems." I guess that's what's more interesting and compelling to me, not cults of "sociopaths" (a word used in the book to describe Ginger, but which is not a scientifically specific, diagnostic term).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Vomit

Minor: Pregnancy

taivassaari's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

delaniraeann's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts