Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

73 reviews

ameydireads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

"Some people said that broken bones grew back stronger. On the good days, I told myself that was true, that each time the world tried to break me, I became a little less breakable. On the bad days, I suspected that I would always be broken, that parts of me would never be quite right—and that those were the parts that made me good at the job. Those were the parts that made this house and the people in it home."

The Naturals are back! In this book the FBI investigates a serial killer that is copying the MO of Dean’s father. This case provides a deeper insight into Dean’s character and his difficult history with his father. Honestly, his father is a POS—the devil incarnate who thrives on manipulation and mind games. As this case concerns Dean’s father, there is no stopping the Naturals from getting involved, much to the dismay of Agent Sterling. 

Agent Sterling, an FBI profiler, is an intriguing new character in this story. At first, her strictness and stern attitude made me unsure if I would like her, but this changed as her backstory unfolded. I understood her better and she quickly grew into one of my favourite characters. 

I’m not a big fan of love triangles, so I appreciated that this came to an end after they solved the case. I hope it doesn’t return! On a side note, I also hope that they will improve the security of the house the Naturals reside in. You ‘d expect they would have learned their lesson after their previous encounter with a serial killer, but apparently not.

Overall, it’s a thrilling and fast-paced read. The psychology of the criminal mind, particularly that of Dean’s father, was both interesting and deeply disturbing. We see what drives him and what his ulterior motives are. Additionally, the nerve-wracking ending where Cassie finds herself in a life-threatening situation with again another serial killer made sure I could not put this book down.

I’m excited to read the next books, especially now that the Naturals have permission to work on active investigations!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

melist6's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Torture, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

emiliegrace's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Okay this finally did the trick to pull me out of my reading slump. This series is truly quite fun, even though this was slightly more predictable than the first. I really enjoyed the deeper dive into Dean’s character and his childhood, and just how all of that is connected to Cassie and the rest of the Naturals. I knew she’d end up with Dean, but 
my heart kinda hurts for Michael….

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

the_readingwitch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

han_nanner6's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

tnemelce's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent and Abandonment

emmastrachan's review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.25

The romance angle continued to be very cringe in this one, and the plot was predictable.  It was odd that towards the end it was laid out as a kind of twist when it felt so obvious that I was questioning if maybe it was circling into red herring territory but nope.

Serves it's purpose for being a book I don't care about in between other books I do.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

myahthebookfiend'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

pretty decent. I liked it. nothing too crazy, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence

emisbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

i am eating this series up

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence and Injury/Injury detail