Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

80 reviews

vivisms_82's review against another edition

dark sad tense

3.0

I can handle a far fetched, convoluted story - but only if it's written well and the protagonist we are rooting for is at least somewhat believable. How can you go on a journey with her when you already think her backstory is ridiculous? Wayyyyy too many hardships to be realistic. Maybe if she was 45 and not 25 to have gone through so much I may have bought it better. And I get that in order for the plot to work, Riley needed someone with "no ties' but flippin hell Jules' past reads like Dickensesque tragedy one thing after the other;

we have a dying mother, a father that decides to suicide with her and sets the house on fire for insurance, Jules finds out parents had a lot of debt and she had to pay for two funerals so pretty much her parents f**ked themselves because after all that she wasn't left a penny, a missing sister - which I'm hoping Mr Sager aint setting up for a sequel - in any case I will not be reading it, a cheating, loser ex, and lastly Jules being one of the 10% to be cut at her workplace.... for real?? She is like 25/26?! This is A LOT of backstory to buy, especially someone so young. Yes, I know it can happen but it was for me too much.

Parts of this book were indeed thrilling but others were just eyeroll dull or problematic - I mean the part where

Jules escapes from the hospital and Greta sees her - the same person that has her kidney inside her and has benefited and colluded with this scheme and she just lets her escape because Jules mimes "please"... c'mon. That type of snakey character would have screamed out. Just bogus and frankly lazy storytelling because it then made it easy for Riley to have Jules be able to get away.

I would have liked more exploration of class, wealth and inequality; wealthy people being able to

jump the transplant queue and buy a heart, kidney, liver - whatever they need or to simply have access to proper healthcare. This already happens in the real world and I think it's a missed opportunity to have not teased out a little.

Btw finding out what was really going on that building was actually a relief compared to the weird path it was taking

I was like "nooooooo, not freakn satanic cult rubbish"... so when I read it was an organ stealing scheme I was like "phew" ;)

 the narrator is excellent - cannot fault her. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

eliza_beth_23's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Gore, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Sexual content

akeilmorris's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I got major Archive 81 (Netflix) vibes throughout this book. Just when I thought I had it figured out, it took a turn and I am sitting here like WTF.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma

Moderate: Kidnapping and Classism

vs9001's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

larareads's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Self harm

chelbelle122's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

What even was this?  I seriously have no words to describe how much I cannot even...

Why.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bibliorama's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Enjoyment - 3
This was fine, nothing too crazy or spectacular. It does wrap everything up neatly. I'd say this is a good palette cleanser book.
Start - 2.5
Characters - 2.5
Atmosphere - 3
Plot - 3
Ending - 3.5
Style - 2.5 

Overall - 3

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Suicide, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Honestly, this book is pretty light, and while the trigger warnings are there, it's not dwelling on the details or trying to paint a graphic image of what's happening. It is written simply and enough to get the point across, but not to haunt your nightmares etc.

scarlettreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

tabby09's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

This was a great book. I was engaged the entire time and sped through it. 

The main character made some stupid choices to keep the story going, but it didn't bother me much because I expect that in thrillers or horror. Some of the other characters lacked depth, but it was great for a thriller. I did not expect most of the twists, except one. 

There were parts at the end that were difficult for me to get through. I got very queasy and had to take a break, I'm very squeamish though. It's possible to push through it and is only a factor at the end. 

I read this as a physical book, supported by the audiobook. Single narration was good, she did the different voices well and even slurred well during the hospital scenes. 

This was the second Riley Sager book I've read, the other being Survive the Night. I noticed a similarity in the villains-

The god-complex, or being more "special" than others, justifying the murders

A little thing that bothered me: 

I was a little confused at the allusion to it being supernatural in some way. I guess it was done just to confuse us, but I don't understand why the wallpaper had the optical illusion or why the snake's fire looked like it was burning, etc.

. Some things could have used a little more explaining. I was also hoping her sister would tie in somehow. 

Loved the ending.

BURN IT ALL DOWN! Lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Torture, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Sexual content

Missing/dead sister as well. Mentioned often. The gore isn't that intense, but beware if you're squeamish!

organ theft