Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

12 reviews

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Abandonment, Murder, and Confinement

Moderate: Gaslighting and Violence

laurenevlyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

Amazing book. Amazing series. Amazing conclusion. The Truly Devious Series is a mystery masterpiece and The Hand on the Wall is an amazing ending to the Ellington case. I can’t wait to read the next two as soon as possible!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Kidnapping

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Drug abuse, Gore, Child death, Addiction, Pregnancy, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Racism

maggiegirouard's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

really good, I actually wasn’t able to predict pretty much anything that happened which normally I can, so that was exciting because I genuinely had no idea what was going to happen next, which made it fast-paced and quick to read. Clever, interesting how all the details connected and worked out. Really good representation of anxiety. Some really good, well-written, original lines. Personally I think this was the best of the 3. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, and Body horror

r_lynn13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Such a good series. Everything was tied up in a believable bow. I cannot wait to read the companion books. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Death, Drug use, and Infidelity

Minor: Car accident, Alcoholism, and Blood

emily_mh's review

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

This was terrible. I invested three books worth of time and money for THIS???????

Already, the culprit of the original mystery being Marsh was disappointing, not because I had predicted this from book one, but because money isn't an interesting motive!! It sucks!! And then Johnson goes and makes it the motive for the MODERN murders too???? And the murderer is a bare sketch of a character at that??? And also, it turns out Alice died of measles???? Did someone say massive cop out??? And then Stevie doesn't want to present the evidence about Alice's real parents, because that way the money stays with the school. With a PRIVATE. SCHOOL. Set up by a BILLIONAIRE. And people go on thinking Alice is missing instead of paying her respects and letting her rest. Other annoying things include: nothing actually happening in this book and a lack of tension despite the really interesting premise of being snowed in on a mountain in the middle of nowhere; David suddenly being okay with Stevie; Frankie and Eddie serving no purpose or character arc beyond hoarding evidence for future Stevie to find; and finally, the random moose motif that doesn't mean anything. The only thing saving this book from a one star is that it was borderline entertaining and creepy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Death, Child death, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Violence, Cursing, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Medical content, Ableism, Kidnapping, Animal death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Gun violence, War, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Blood, Addiction, Drug use, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Vomit, Grief, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Racism, Suicide, and Stalking

Child birth, explosions, adoption, loss of a loved one (friend, aunt), illness

nfarrell24's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.25

SPOILERS

The first 75% of this book was great. The mystery was still alive and engaging, but the last 25% lost me a bit. The ending of the Ellingham case seemed too easy and quick. I felt like Charles was all of a sudden the culprit, almost out of nowhere. I also feel like the case still had so many unanswered questions, and even as good as Stevie was, there was no way she would just figure it all out like that. I’m also not entirely sure why the part where they went into the cave was necessary to the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Drug use

bookishgoob'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

this was definitely the BEST of the trilogy but as a whole the trilogy as a whole i think is 5 stars but this one is my favorite for sure. I love the relationship between all the characters and i think that Nate is autistic coded because he felt very on the spectrum to me (as someone on the spectrum) this book was so suspenseful and the dual timelines was really fun. such a good ending to the trilogy. i can’t wait to start the box in the woods and continue on in this universe with these characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence

thenextgenlibrarian's review against another edition

informative mysterious fast-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? Yes

5.0

“Every contact leaves a trace.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Child death, and Violence

genny's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

Fun conclusion to the trilogy. Even though the culprit of the 1936 mystery was revealed in the last book, there were still many questions left and I enjoyed how the answers were revealed here. Leo Nair might just be my favorite side character. I've had a suspicion about the present-day culprit since the second book but dismissed it as unlikely, yet it turns out I was right! Point for me, whoo. Still, I was hoping for a bit more...I don't know, thrill? It felt a little anticlimactic. Stevie's style of revealing the culprit would've been corny, but she was so meta about it that it wasn't. 😆 Some of her conclusions felt earned, while others didn't (particularly her understanding of the 1936 mystery, which she suddenly info-dumps at the end).

David, though. David. He was incredibly annoying. I'm sorry, I get it, he's a teenager with personal issues, but I just cannot stand his "romance" with Stevie. Even the two of them couldn't explain why their relationship existed in the first place, haha. I dreaded their interactions. They never even addressed their problems

, they just got back together because of the emotional intensity of their situation. Poof, just like that, all the arguments they spat at each other were forgotten

. Cue plenty of eye rolls.

I still really enjoyed this and would be happy to read the next book. A fresh new mystery for Stevie sounds great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

Minor: Drug use

ghoulscoutcamp's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Violence, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury