Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Maid by Nita Prose

87 reviews

laheath's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

Good mystery with great characters, some who aren't who they seem to be and some who become found family to the title character. The twists near the end were surprising and emotional. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Deportation, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Cancer, and Murder

sarahflanders's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Grief, Terminal illness, Murder, and Toxic relationship

samburkhouse's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Grief, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Terminal illness, Infidelity, Bullying, Death of parent, Ableism, and Cancer

Minor: Deportation, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment

anekk78's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Only minutes into this book it became one of my favorites ever! It is beautiful book about human relations with a murder sprinkled over. And the main character is an Eleanor Olyphant type character, you’ll either live her or hate her. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Terminal illness, Grief, Addiction, Death, Murder, Drug use, Death of parent, and Cancer

annaofjesup's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Terminal illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

Minor: Deportation

davinmotion's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

What a fun mystery with a plucky heroine! For some reason I thought of her as a fashionable Amelia Bedelia, despite not having read those books in decades. She has heart of gold and a clever way with words. I sincerely hope to see more characters like her. 

If you want a fun, light-hearted mystery with a lot of memorable characters, I highly recommend this one. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying and Death of parent

Minor: Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Terminal illness

If you’re sensitive to the unfortunate prejudice a neurodivergent person may face this book may be difficult for you to read.

smsegal's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Bullying

misskitty14's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

Many murder mysteries are helmed by a neurodivergent detective (Holmes, Poirot, Monk), but most of them rarely get into how their mind works and even fewer acknowledge the challenges faced by these characters' disability (their attention to detail is simply a superpower). The main character of the novel, Molly Gray, is neurodivergent but this does not make her a superhuman detective. Instead, the reader comes to realize how much Molly doesn't see or understand because of the way her mind works. It can be frustrating at times to watch as she trusts the wrong people and misunderstands situations that are very obvious to the rest of us.  I've heard many people with neurodiversity discuss how they hate that their disability is oftentimes represented as a superpower rather than an actual disability (comedian Fern Brady has a whole stand-up about it). Overall, I found this aspect of the novel to be incredibly educational and led to increased empathy on my part.

The reason I don't give this book 5 stars is because of the ending. Prose fell into the classic murder mystery trope of keeping valuable information from the reader.

From the beginning our main character knows who killed Mr. Black (it isn't anyone ever put on our radar) but never tells anyone or discusses it in her own mind.

Before I got to the end of the novel, I thought I figured out the answer, which seemed very obvious from the beginning, but I was impressed by how the pieces had come together. Instead, like all other murder mystery authors before her, Prose decides to justify a left-field answer by withholding information from the reader, information that should be known to us since we are inside Molly's head.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Bullying, Terminal illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

mercy killing

auliarach's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Terminal illness