Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Kuinka murhata mies ja päästä pälkähästä by Katy Brent

28 reviews

ruthywithas's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed reading about Kitty Collins' murderous adventures as we slowly learn more about her and her past. Brent did a great job with pacing the story, keeping you engaged throughout. I did find Kitty to be slightly jarring at times but overall a decent read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Stalking

Minor: Eating disorder, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

bakingbookworm's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

This book caught my attention with its title. How could it not? 

 

Sadly, the story beneath the cover page was disappointing. It started off with a cool writing style that made me think it was a mix of Finley Donovan and Dexter. You know, a lighter (albeit murderous) read that would have me giggling and have menfolk, upon seeing the cover, questioning if they want to get on my bad side. 

 

But it's not that kind of read. 

 

In the beginning, the book had a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek vibe with a shallow but quirky main character. But the story changes to a darker satirical feel (satire is so not my jam) that was often outrageous and off-putting with a cast that is made up of well-to-do, self-indulgent, obnoxious socialites and at their centre is Kitty Collins. She's a debutante and social media influencer who happens upon the first couple of murders and then decides that she's going to be a vigilante and right the wrongs against women by murdering despicable, abusive men. I didn't mind that Kitty was unlikeable, but she wasn't all that interesting. 

 

I loved the short chapters, but the story felt unbalanced and I'm not sure what this book was trying to be. The main plot - Kitty's murder rampage - is often overshadowed by the overemphasis of influencer and vegan culture. And despite the quirky vibe, the gore factor is very high with graphic torture scenes of people and animals, a few uncomfortable sexual scenes. Sexual assault is discussed several times with child sexual abuse briefly described as well. 

 

This was a quick read and despite the mounting body count, it was the mystery of Kitty's stalker that had me turning the pages. Dark, over-the-top, uncomfortable and a bit bland, this book wasn't a good fit for me. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Torture

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Child abuse

graceev's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Miscarriage

hannahniaer's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

jennylo's review against another edition

dark lighthearted fast-paced

3.0

Almost a beach read, a very quick and easy read that isn't challenging or complex. I did read it very quickly, not from a huge amount of enjoyment, but from seeing if I guessed the twist correctly (I did, go me). Not an essential read, but again, an easy pallette cleanser if your ok with moderate gore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Miscarriage

ksuazo94's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

tarasparkels1017's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

coffeekitaab's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

When reading a fiction that is so close to the truth always hits me hard, especially when that truth is the violence faced by women and girls. There is not a single scenario that Kitty overhears either from friends or on the news that is untrue, be it ghosting by men after sex leading to heartbreak, sexual harassment faced by aspiring artists by those dominating in the industry, and even violence and abuse from their own partners. This is a book that needed to be written and I understand and appreciate the emotion behind it, especially when stats tell you that convictions for rape are the lowest, because firstly they're not reported by women in the first instance and secondly because of a "lack of evidence". This is not about the innocent  (although Katy Brent really ties up all eventualities in this book especially on this element to her credit) and there will be because no justice system, especially not the British system, is perfect but what happens when it fails the survivors? Enter Kitty Collins. 

I loved the dark humour and satire in this book. With it being a theme close to my heart, I would have struggled with the gruesome descriptions of violence and murder generally (did anyone turn vegan after reading this book I'm intrigued to know?). I loved the writing and the concept. It leaves me sad because of the truth behind it but overall I would recommend this - but noting all the trigger warnings first. Looking forward to Brent's next. Thank you @netgalley and @HQStories for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

amyjmcd's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Miscarriage

karla_'s review against another edition

slow-paced

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

0.25

 How to kill men but without the n.
This is how I felt reading this book.

 I need to take a breath and mentally prepare myself for what's about to come. 

 I made a silly little joke at the start of this book, how to kill men but without the n. Little did I know I'd be so goddam right. I need healing after this book and not because of graphic murders (no I actually love those ones and they were barely even in the book) but because of all the cringe. I don't think I have ever dragged myself so much to finish a book. If this hadn't have started as a buddy read with my best friend I think it would have been my first DNF ever. 

 Where do I even start with this one? Oh I know let's start with the first page which instead of being flooded with praise should have had a fucking paragraph of trigger warnings. I've read some reviews and I see people giving a list of them (funny isn't it how we have to do the author's work) so I might do it as well as people deserve to know what they're getting themselves into. 

 We've got pedophilia, domestic abuse, sexual assault, gore, rape, gang rape, mentions of rape, incest, cruelty towards animals, eating disorders, substance abuse (drugs, alcohol), overdose, mentions of self-harm, mentions of suicide and I might as well add misogyny and sexism here. 

 And if we're still at the list of things this book needed, how about we add a fucking editor. There were grammatical mistakes, words not finished, sentences not finished and sentences that made zero sense all over the book. 

 I have to mention I have found some pretty questionable things in this book such as cultural appropriation and racism. Plus most of the characters were so problematic they made me want to throw this book out the window as our fmc shames her friends for having ED's or the love interest lets a rapist work in his company after he has had complaints from his female employees that they have been SA'd by said man only because he brings in a lot of money. 

 Every new character is introduced by the number of their Instagram followers and there are brand names dropped for literally everything, I think there were more brand names than killings in this book and that says it all. Also it is mentioned every couple of pages that the fmc is vegan like miss Katy I think we got it after the first time, there's no need to repeat that till the end of the book. 

 I'd say the lack of representation in this book is terrifying as we only have one token black side character and that's it but it goes much further than that as the characters' personalities, character development or the plot are nowhere to be found during the entirety of this book. 

 I have never been more disappointed and bored by a book before. Our fmc has a stalker and we find this out by the first chapters and by the end I got so bored by this book I didn't even have the energy or initiative of trying to guess who that might be. And keep in mind this stalker was the only interesting thing going on for basically the whole book and both me and the fmc forgot about its existence at least once.        When we found out who it was I was like "okay cool how much till I finish this book?". It literally had none of the things that make a good psychological thriller but you know what it had instead? Smut. It has so much smut the chances of you opening the book and not finding a sex scene or sex related scene are almost below 0. I came here for the murder and I've left feeling like I had been reading a poorly written Wattpad fanfic. You know what screw that I have read BETTER fanfics than this so-called book. I have no idea how this shit even got published in the first place. 

 Let's leave aside the fact the killings were infinitesimal in a book whose title has the word kill in it, even the killings we did get were just so easy. The lack of research put into this book is so obvious it kills me. She gets away with it but most of the time it's only her stalker's hand that keeps her out of trouble. Everything is just too easy. We encounter police two times and it's the shittiest interaction ever. 
 How she's not caught when she lives in fucking London and leaves behind like a mount Everest amount of evidence is beyond me. 

 Oh and the characters? they were just plain and annoying af, our mc is the biggest pick me, she literally says and I quote "I'm not like these girls" and the love interest is just sexist but our fmc stays with him because they love each other (they said "I love you" after three dates THREE FUCKING DATES and after they have previously broken up). 

 And to end this nicely, the only thing I liked about this book was its title and its cover. It will look awesome on my shelves but that's it. I will never recommend this to anybody, it was painful to read and to actually finish this atrocity of a book. 

Never again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Blood, and Stalking

Minor: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Cultural appropriation