Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Echo Man, by Sam Holland

8 reviews

soobooksalot's review

challenging 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Torture, Death of parent, Drug use, Murder, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

sarabee_reads's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

Well SHIT. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Sexual violence, Addiction, and Child abuse

Moderate: Injury/injury detail, Death, Animal death, Torture, Stalking, Self harm, Rape, and Physical abuse

saartjeinwonderbookland's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Hate crime, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

teacupsandbookshelves's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Stalking, Pedophilia, Injury/injury detail, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Cursing, Child abuse, Murder, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Rape, Torture, Blood, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Death

estherb's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

It’s been a while since I’ve read such a bloodthirsty police procedural - not since my last Chris Carter novel!

The echo man is killing people in the style of notorious serial killers and DCI Cara Elliott is the woman who’s trying to catch him, along with her DS brother - Nate Griffin- who’s suspended from duty and has demons of his own.

This was a great debut with some real gusty characters and some gruesome murders - certainly not for the faint hearted.

Each murder was linked and it was so addictive trying to put all the pieces of the macabre puzzle together. Real crime fans will certainly have a field day with the references (the Charles Manson and Ted Bundy were really good and so clever!)

The twists and turns just left me wanting more and the ending had me on tenterhooks- can’t wait for the next instalment (there HAS to be one!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Murder, Addiction, Child abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture

readbydanni's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow, this book is not for the faint hearted!
The Echo Man is brilliantly written with a plot that will shock you from start to finish. The development of the plot is really clever and quick-paced. The writing is brilliant and Sam Holland was not afraid of writing in horrific sometimes graphic detail of abuse and assault.
There is a small group of main characters, each of which have their own personal struggles as they try to work together to find the culprit and bring to an end the horrific attacks and murders of The Echo Man.
While it's not for the faint hearted, it's such a good book that kept me guessing all the way through. It's one of those books where the reader will find themselves questioning nearly every character they meet!
I really enjoyed The Echo Man and definitely would recommend with the advice for potential readers to check the CW's first.
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Thank you to NetGalley, Sam Holland and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence

abookwormwithwine's review

dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Holy MOLY, I knew The Echo Man by Sam Holland was going to be violent and gory, but I didn't realize the full extent of this until I actually got going. I read Karin Slaughter, so I am no stranger to this in my books, but Holland definitely took things to a whole new level. This isn't a book you are going to want to read while eating, but it was completely fantastic, and I am in both shock and awe that this is Holland's debut novel. The author describes herself as a serial killer nerd and that definitely comes through in the story. I also appreciated that she explained a bit about the serial killers mentioned by working it into the plot, so the reader doesn't have to Google anything. There are about a million triggers in the book, and if you shy away from any type of violence or gore you should NOT read The Echo Man since it is very graphic.

I loved the different viewpoints, and this is a straight-up police procedural but at the same time a whole lot more than that. I really liked having Jessica's viewpoint and the fact that she ends up doing a bit of sleuthing herself. The pacing is very fast which made the book feel way shorter than over 300 pages, and it also helped that the chapters were super short and engaging. The aspect of the copycat killer really got my attention, but I was also completely drawn to the characters. Cara is such a great detective and is the strong and fierce kind of woman I like to have as the lead in the books I read, and I couldn't help but adore Griffin (AKA Nate). I did think it was a little odd that Holland kept interchanging Deakin and Griffin’s first names with their last and do prefer when authors stick to using one or the other, but it was a very small thing in the grand scheme and didn't take away from the story. If you love police procedurals, true crime, serial killers, and crazy twists I HIGHLY recommend you read The Echo Man immediately. I also can't help but hope this isn't the last we have seen of Detective Cara Elliott.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual violence, Violence, Gore, and Rape

librariangeorgia's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow! Wow! Wow!

Bloody hell, that is one hell of a debut novel!

I'm still wrapping my head around it. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about it. I'm a fan of serial killers in books and this one was very well written.

I thought I knew who did it around half way through but with every reveal, I kept changing my mind.

That ending was fantastic! I completely did not see that coming!

I must warn potential readers that this is quite a graphic book - mostly with the details of the murders but there are also some graphic sex scenes.

I read the kindle version of this e-arc and the format isn't quite right. It feels like it jumps too much as it's not obvious where the breaks should be.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Torture