Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Billy Summers by Stephen King

65 reviews

joshkiba13's review

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adventurous emotional tense medium-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? No

4.0

"Did you know that you could sit in front of a screen or a pad of paper and change the world? It doesn't last, the world always comes back, but before it does it's awesome. It's everything. Because you can have things the way you want..." -Stephen King, Billy Summers

This book was fantastic. The premise of a hired hitman doing his final job is what interested me initially, but what I found was the story of a man finding a love for writing. Many of King's books are about English teachers and authors, and uses that I think as a way to project his feelings about the craft. The way he does it in this story was a neat way to provide readers with Billy's backstory little by little, rather than start the book from the beginning of his life. 

I came for the final job story and got that, plus a love letter to writing stories. It was a slower build up with really gripping and gratifying moments, and unlike some of his darker stuff, I left feeling inspired. A great read :)
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funkaroo12's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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simonisreading's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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nailartklaudia's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

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emileegarrett's review

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dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.5

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sydneet's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

I truly enjoyed this book. This was my first Stephen King book and I loved it. I admire how King writes and how he describes his characters/events etc. I grew to love the characters in this book, especially Billy and Alice. This was one of those books where you feel like you are the main character going through all the events of the book. My ONLY critique is that, in my opinion, I felt that the beginning was a little slow.  I was a little skeptical that I would get bored with the parts of the book that was “Billy’s book” but I liked it and I liked how King incorporated Billy’s past as it showed how he became the way he was. I would totally reread this and I recommend it to everyone. 
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zoemaeboonz's review

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

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lindenw's review

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dark slow-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

2.25

This is my least favorite Stephen King book. I could get behind the first half, somewhat reminiscent & condensed version of 11/22/63, but the second half lost me entirely. 

This weird savior/revenge plot with the girl, the book within a book (within a book?), and the random Shining references (enough supernatural stuff to make it seem like there would be a relevant payoff, but of course not)… none of that did it for me. This felt like it could have been three separate novellas but he wanted to cram them all together.
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finn_vibing's review

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Characters weren’t authentic. 
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bo_oklover's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

 This book took me forever to finish! I started multiple times but I could not get into it. But I finally sat down and read the whole thing. The writing was incredible and it included so many details. I would have loved this book even more if it was a little bit more fast paced. I feel like the pacing of the book was the only thing I didn’t like about it. I do recommend, just check TWs before you start reading. 
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