Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Helltown: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod by Casey Sherman

9 reviews

alexrobinsonsupergenius's review against another edition

dark sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence, and Kidnapping

idkimoutofideas's review

dark medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

akaymayday's review

dark informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Murder

jessies's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

3.0

Before the infamous Manson killings, a killer terrorized Provincetown, murdering and butchering young women.  This book goes deep into serial killer Tony Costa and intersperses the literary battle between Normal Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut, local authors who were both writing about the murders.  I enjoyed the back and forth between topics, it made the book move faster.  

While the hunt for Costa and the resulting trial are detailed, most of the book is about Costa himself.  While the author is respectful of the victims and their families, I found the depictions of the brutal murders from Costa's perspective gratuitous.  This book is written much like an Erik Larson book, in which it is a "fiction" non-fiction book.  I took the dramatized parts with a grain of salt. 

The author narrates this book and he did a great job. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, and Murder

makcrowley's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

If you read this as a fiction book with a few facts, it’s interesting, though a little chopped up. 
Because the author meshes facts with fictional convos, it is hard to determine which are real facts based instances and which are fictional. So it should not be read as true crime. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, and Murder

cervinlibrarian's review

tense slow-paced

4.0

I thought it was well written, but found all of the details on Vonnegut and Mailer distracting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

2.5

 I don't think authors should narrate their own books most of the time, but this author did okay. However, the book was at least 5 hrs too long with all the Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonget stuff. Also, the gruesome narrator of the crimes was graphically described WAY too many times, it was just over and over again. I did appreciate the amount of research the author put into the book, but I probably wouldn't recommend this book. It's simply just too long!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide

theoceanrose's review against another edition

The background information on the killer was interesting, but there was so much that seemed irrelevant that it was frustrating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia and Outing