Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica

31 reviews

coco78337's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

What I liked:

• Good voice acting in the audiobook and multiple actors 
• How tense and how face paced the book was
• The dialogue between the characters
• Book structure, jumping back and forth through time and all the different characters perspectives
• The two story-lines and how they interwined
• The author was really good at making the reader feel the fear the characters were
• Casual LGBTQ inclusion

What I didn't like

• The characters felt a bit underdeveloped. So some of the decisions they made didn't really seem to make sense
• The logic of the book unfortunately starts to fall apart a bit for me about 3/4 of the way through the book. Like characters do things that don't really make sense/ we don't know them well enough to justify the odd decisions they make

But you know what, I enjoyed most of the ride. This would have been an easy five stars for me if just a bit more attention was paid to logic/ character development so their decisions felt logical within the context of the story. I am someone who gets caught up in details of things and really gets annoyed by things not making sense in the context so what bothered me might not bother you, or maybe it will bother you even more haha. 

Spoilers : 

74% -  Why would their respective partners leave two drunk ladies at the bar with no plan for them to get home? Also just weird for couples in their thirties to leave their partner behind at a bar, even if they're with a friend, this seems like a very immature thing to do, especially when they didn't plan how the two were going to get home. 

Why are these grown ass women drunk driving? Again seems like an extremely juvenile/ immature thing to do. These ladies are presented as middle class/ upper class people who are not dumb. So they have the money for a cab and the common sense to take one. Do cabs/ Ubers not exist in this universe? I really think they would've called their partners or an Uber/ cab. 

76% - The hit and hide the body. Why was the runner even in the middle of the road? Why didn't they see her? Earlier we were told that the runner was wearing running clothes. This is where the lack of character development makes things seem illogical. I just feel like we haven't seen anything from Meredith up until this point to indicate that she is such a pushover that she could literally get peer-presured into covering up a murder? I know it says she's in shock, I know she's drunk. But she literally knows who they hit. It says they're near a neig borhood. Girl if leaving the victim is unfathomable, wtf is hiding the body. RUN TO THE HOUSES???? I also feel like we didn't get to know Bea well enough to understand why she would rather risk covering up a murder than just phoning the police and risking a drunk driving manslaughter charge??? I feel like we also didn't see enough of Bea and Meridith's friendship to understand why Meredith would go along with her plan.

91% - Makes absolutely ZERO sense why Meredith would TELL BEA THAT SHE'S GOING TO TURN HER IN AND CONFRONT HER ONE ON ONE!!! the earlier illogical stuff could be forgiven but this makes no sense. Meridith at this point, literally knows Bea is capable of, if not murder, at least hiding a body, and framing an innocent person. Once again, maybe if we knew the characters a bit better/ knew their friendship a bit better this could have made a bit more sense. Especially why would Meredith would confront Bea if her child was at home. Like girl LIE to Bea! Phone the cops silly.

95% - Ok this part also makes zero sense. I really thought Bea was going to make Meredith take the knife and stab herself. Forensically this makes absolutely no sense. Self inflicted wounds look different than attack wounds!!!!  She presses her palms against the wounds?? Like what. Like angles and shit man. This makes absolutely no sense. And don't hotels have videocameras ? Like what.  Also she bonked her on the head with a Hammer LOL, like a self-inflicted hammer blow to the head lol 
99% - copy-cat killer part is kinda weird? I feel saying this was just to justify why Carly looked so similar to Delilah. But it says they wanted attention and got none .. so why would they just keep Carly in the basement forever if they wanted attention. Also the Bea and the Garage part. Like I feel like Bea could've just said no to the police search. This part felt a bit forced. Feel like a bit of a tweak would've made it more realistic. Like Kate checking it out after being weirded out as to why Bea wouldn't let the cops in.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Excrement

traumatic birth scene leading to baby developing birth defect, traumatic pap smear, doctor performing medical procedure without consent

ellainalisa's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content, Car accident, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, and Medical trauma

katelynndzindzio's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

killmoore_'s review against another edition

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? It's complicated

3.5

I enjoyed every moment of this... right up until I didn't.  I struggled with the plot holes and how unbelievable the big twist was. The ending I made up in my head was better than the one we were given. 

Fun read, but don't expect too much.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Very in depth description of dofficult labor and complications from medical neglect.

blakeandbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

sierrabowers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This was an amazing mystery/thriller. I was hooked from the very beginning and was wondering what happened to Delilah, Shelby, and Meredith the entire time. I never saw it coming! I recommend to anyone who likes mysteries or thrillers!! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

kaylawtzl22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

kept my attention the entire time. when i wasn’t reading it, i was wondering about delilah. so so sooooo good. mary kubica is phenomenal at writing in tension and anxiety with quick, simple sentences that make the book move just as quickly as the sequences in the book. i made several theories throughout the book of who did what and was only right about a small detail. plot twists for sure. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Pregnancy

the book is a LITTLE heavy. things are mentioned, but not explained in graphic detail, but if you are super sensitive to those topics, best to avoid.

magical_mads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

jenzee27's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Confusing at the beginning and hard to follow along. However, when you get familiar with the writing style as well as an understanding of the characters, it becomes intriguing! I love when a book can keep you guessing who'done it and isn't outright easily predictable. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder