Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

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

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Such a terrifying, yet fascinating premise for a book. This is a unique thriller and one that I won’t forget about anytime soon. The second half of the book drug on a little for me but once I understood why it was set up the way it was, the pace picked up again. It didn’t take me long to identify the bad guy once the second part of the book started but it was gratifying to be right in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

allapaz's review against another edition

3.25

let's take morally grey and make it reeeeal morally grey

a solid lil thriller

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Toxic relationship

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

mysterious medium-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? Yes

2.0

I really didn’t like this book. the writing was not my favorite, the characters felt illegitimate, and the ending/reveal was cheap and obvious in my opinion. after reading the back i was so incredibly excited to read and love this but it just felt like a first draft :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail