Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

85 reviews

aparker89's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

uchihas's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

i usually hate mysteries but this one was pretty good! i thought i had it figured out but it surprised me in a good way. the author uses “drink in” too often lol but otherwise i like the way she writes! a solid experience tbh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Stalking

colorcrystals's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking

omg_pear's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This was a really fun popcorn thriller. I read it in two sittings and just couldn’t stop. The twist was one of those things that I thought I knew but I really didn’t and the extra layers were great. I really didn’t like the way the last 20ish pages played out and felt it could have been done differently. How? Unsure. But thats the few points that were knocked off. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Child abuse

enc3336's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was alright, it did make me frustrated with the cliché female who can’t be taken seriously because they are self medicating and making themselves an unreliable source. It does keep you guessing at who committed the crimes and does lead you down one path and the twists it at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Murder

jennaviolet's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

0.5

Please don’t read this. There’s a lot of telling and no showing, no getting to the point. You can’t have all of the twists happen it makes no sense. It feels like this author read Sharp Objects, Where the Crawdads Sing, and other similar but better books and just took each plot point she liked and mixed them together. There is such a thing as too much detail. And none of these character relationships or explanations for even minor occurrences make sense or seem researched to even be plausible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Violence

sierrabowers's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I really liked this book! It was a great mystery/thriller that kept me guessing until the end. I really thought I had it figured out at about 50% of the way through, and I did have my suspicions about the actual ending as well. But it was very satisfying to piece everything together in the end! The only reason I didn’t give it a 5 stars is because I didn’t like the narrator of the audiobook, but the book itself is a 5!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

where_mama_book's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense 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? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

julperez4's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

The plot was amazing, but the writing wasn’t my favorite. Without forewarning there would be jumps in the timeline - going back in time and then resuming “current time”. It was jarring, but I eventually got used to it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Murder

Minor: Pedophilia

decafdirtychai's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

 Another painful read about family and the horrors thereof! I think of “The Push” by Ashley Audrain. Incredible job of capturing the inherent exhaustion of being a woman. Almost five stars but not because I had trouble visualizing some scenes and the chapters were super short, like the reading equivalent of ending every sentence with an exclamation point 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol