Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Granite Harbor: A Novel by Peter Nichols

7 reviews

erinkellyreads's review

I'm going to have to stop reading this one - I think I am not the audience for this book. There is some good writing happening, and if you love crime thrillers with serial killers, particularly those where you get to see into the killer's past/mind, you'll like this book. A valid criticism I have is that the female characters are written obviously flawed while the MMC has all of his flaws easily brushed away. I tend to read books from mostly female authors, so this might be something that is sticking out to me more in this novel than maybe for another person. There is A LOT of things that made me squirm like animal death, sexual abuse, graphic and gross bullying, etc. I wouldn't usually call myself squeamish, but it was too much for me at this time. 

Again, if you're someone who usually enjoys crime, thrillers, and serial killers, you will probably enjoy this book. Check the content warnings (publisher even says to look out for chapter 34). I won this book in a giveaway from Goodreads, and I'm grateful for the chance to read it, even if I am not the target audience after all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Body horror, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death, Gore, Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual harassment, Incest, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol and Death of parent

library_dreamer's review

dark medium-paced

2.0

This one was really hard for me to rate. The overall story was okay and might have warranted a 3-3.5 from me if it weren't for some detracting elements. It was more of a slow burn with the how and why being slowly revealed and the who not really a secret. It's honestly pretty forgettable to me with the exception of the darker elements like the animal death and no fade to black on a child sexual assault. If that's all I really remember in detail, that tells me it was probably unnecessary in that level of detail.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

chessakat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed this audiobook!

This one is really hard to talk about without giving anything away!

Loved the small town setting in Maine; the novelist-turned-detective father who is the center point of the story; the absolutely creepy method of murder the killer employs; the slow unwinding of a backstory; the way the parents are portrayed, and how realistic the teenager-parent relationships felt.

Didn’t love that the narrator had a pretty muddled Manchester accent for our main detective and that he kept mispronouncing “coif” for the entire book (you might wonder how many times this could POSSIBLY be an issue; it’s 3.)

This was just a very evenly paced thriller with a bit of horror story that built to a great conclusion. The denouement was very satisfying as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Child death, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent

librarianjennifer's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, and Blood

Minor: Gore, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Gun violence, Suicide, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Medical content

darsana8's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Torture

gkaltam's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Gore

Moderate: Suicide

ashkat2631's review

3.25

To keep this spoiler free here are my thoughts:

I have mixed feelings about this book. I will start by saying that this is a genre that I occasionally read but not primarily. 

With that said, this book started off slow. Once it picks up 1/3 of the way in I was into it though. It has a very atmospheric feel and I liked that. Although it took me a while to keep everyone straight I did enjoy all the different POVs. I also liked the whole backstory of the killer and why he is the way he is. The MO with the toads was unique and really interesting to me. 

Near the end, things started to devolve for me. Certain things felt like they came out of nowhere and then they basically saved the day. It was just bizarre to me. I also feel like there was a few questions left unanswered and more story to be told as well. 

Overall, I actually had a good time reading this book. It was an interesting look into a town where a murder of a teen  occurs. You get to see the relationships between certain characters including some of the teenagers and their parents. It was interesting and it held my attention. I liked it but I didn’t love it. 

Thank you to Celadon Books for sending me a copy of the book. I truly appreciate it. All the above thoughts are my own and I’m leaving this review voluntarily. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Gore, Murder, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse