Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Return by Rachel Harrison

20 reviews

randilion28's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I would rate this a 4 star simply because I haven't read anything like it before. It was a quick and easy read. It is really a story of friendships and how beautiful and tough to navigate they are. One of four friends goes missing for two years and shows up without remembering the last two years, so she says, and her friends notice she isn't the same friend they lost two years ago, even though she has a lot of the same qualities, they know something is wrong. The only complaint I have is when you find out what happened to her, they just don't give enough of an explanation and you're left thinking, well WTF. Maybe that was on purpose? It is set in October so definitely a fun read for this month, and again, it has plot that I've never read before so I thoroughly enjoyed it minus the details in the end. If you want something quick, easy to read about friendships and monsters - definitely recommend picking this up. 

Also, because I didn't recognize her name at first, this author wrote "Such Sharp Teeth" and I've read great things about it and have had it on my TBR for a while now. Enjoy! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

aparker89's review

dark emotional 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: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

freemakd's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

wheresminnie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Such a different book from what I usually go for, but loved it! Super fast paced and just the right side of supernatural.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the ending when it became apparent that Elise got away, but found myself reflecting afterward about the story being something of a metaphor for toxic friendships that have run their course.

I think I’ll be thinking of this book for a while!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gore, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

dblue236's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

 This book made me wildly uncomfortable and caused me to have trouble falling asleep over the course of the two days I spent reading it, and I loved every second of it. The setting was phenomenal, and I love this author's ability to snap from mundane, everyday conversations to terrifying scenes of horror in the blink of an eye. I also appreciate that she doesn't rely on gore and splatter in an effort to be "scary." There is definitely a little of that, but the story itself got under my skin in a way that doesn't happen very often and I won't be forgetting this one any time soon. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

elizabethtrue's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Classism

monstersinspace's review

dark mysterious sad slow-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

3.0

Spoilers: The story sorta meandered around a bit and only really picked up like 75% through the book. It was like the author wanted to write both a coming of age story about out growing friendships and how life changes, but hey also this girl might be a demon. It was well written and I liked the characters I just think some of it got lost in the interpersonal relationships which isn't necessaryly a bad thing, but I went in expecting a horror book and I'm not sure if it fully delivered on that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

traa's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Vomit, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Minor: Bullying, Racism, and Xenophobia

marselise's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Eating disorder and Murder

madisonpages98's review

dark emotional 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

This book was a beautiful testament to female friendship! The author did an amazing job of creating and building upon the friendship within the group throughout the entire story. I loved the slow build and the gradual

decline of Julie

created a very atmospheric and creepy setting. The only reason it was not five stars for me was because I felt that the ending was a little over the top. All in all, this was a quick, easy, and spooky read! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Gore, and Murder