Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Billy Summers by Stephen King

10 reviews

ju_harue's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

Foi meu primeiro contato com a escrita do King, e achei que foi um ótimo início, embora a escrita seja bem prolixa, a construção de personagens dele é ímpar, o que motiva a leitura até o fim.
Relacionar a história de volta ao passado, com o ato libertador de colocar em palavras, através da escrita de um livro, foi ótimo.
Camadas de densidade de cada personagem que vai aparecendo, até culminar em transferir talvez o cargo de protagonista vs enredo, achei maravilhoso. Me motivou a ler mais obras.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Murder, Death, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Murder, Abandonment, Gun violence, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Genocide, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and War

akvolcano's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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? Yes

2.25

Honestly I expected more from Stephen King. There is so much hype about him. This book is  messed up, and there is a lot of dehumanizing/gross parts that are unnecessary. The story was interesting, but it was due to the multiple personalities. I think out of all the book, I only enjoyed three or four chapters. I kept hoping it would get better, but it never really did. The writing itself wasn’t that great….I don’t see myself reading any more books from this author. He is a sick man. Don’t really recommend. #disappointedanddisgusted

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, War, Bullying, Child death, Death, Rape, Trafficking, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Murder, and Vomit

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Racism, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Violence, Xenophobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Cancer, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, and War

marine2907's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Alcohol, Body horror, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, Pedophilia, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gore, Vomit, Cursing, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, War, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

hoiitsalex's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gun violence, Death, Vomit, Violence, Rape, Drug use, Blood, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Murder, and Drug abuse

afisher121's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Sexism, Drug use, Gun violence, and Death

readerette's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

3.5

There were a lot of distractions from the story for me, though I wouldn't necessarily disrecommend the story. Basically I could have done without the whole first half with all the minutiae of Billy's daily life leading up to the hit and his "dumb self" writing. There were so many Trump references (as if King were using this book to process his despair over Trump becoming President). The only gay person identified in the story got an extremely stereotypical portrayal. I couldn't get over the unbelievable amount of bungling Billy did given his supposed reputation as an excellent assassin. And then there was Alice: the use of a horrific crime to bring her into Billy's life (couldn't possibly have given him a sidekick any other way, of course), she didn't seem to have all that much trouble with what happened to her (outside of nightly panic attacks), and the characterization of the relationship between Alice and Billy disturbed me given the circumstances under which King had them meet. Billy as a character also felt overworked to me, like in an attempt to make him seem as complex as a real human, King have him one or two too many quirks. The Easter eggs were distracting to me, but bigger fans might appreciate them.

All that frustration for me as a reader, and it seems Alice will not even publish Billy's opus because she's worried about repercussions, but for whom? Billy's dead, and she can change any names or events she wants, and leave out anything that seems overly incriminating. So... I'm confused.

The last 50 pages were pretty great, though. The ending was somewhat predictable, but not its details. In that part of the book I finally felt enough for Billy and Alice that I hoped everything would turn out for them (all the distractions mentioned above stopped and it just came down to the core of the story and the people in it). If you like thrillers and "bad people" getting what's coming to them, you could do worse than this one. But it's not The Body, which I consider a far superior Stephen King story (also far more concise).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, War, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death, Vomit, and Murder

Minor: Racism, Racial slurs, and Confinement

neptunereign's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent and Drug use

Minor: Trafficking

cuppajoe_'s review

dark tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

emamoretti03's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-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? No

4.75

Libro divorato, come al solito la scrittura di King rapisce e non riesci a staccarti. I personaggi sono realistici e tridimensionali, la storia non è scontata e ci sono anche dei bei colpi di scena

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Rape, and Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Child death

captainmadeline's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I want to start by saying that I never thought I would so deeply care about a hitman.

<spolier> I saw some non-spoiler reviews about this book that touted a lot about how this is one of the most interesting pairings King has ever done, and I was like "hmm sure, I'll see about that", but it was. I loved Billy and Alice's relationship immediatley. I loved them both immensely. Billy is probably one of the most interesting characters that I have met in a long while. Oh, and not to mention Bucky!!

The plot of this book was also amazing. It kept me engaged and I wanted to know more the entire time. I really appreciated how, even though there were quite a few scenes where there could have been really long, expansive descriptions of military operations or assassinations, they were never that long. King stuck to the important bits that pertained more to the main character than the plot, which I prefer.

Also, can I just say, one of my favorite things about King is when he writes references to his other novels into his books? It makes me smile like an idiot every time it happens.

I think that one thing that I could say about this book that might be negative is that sometimes it was hard to get into the chapters where Billy was writing about his time in the war. But, as soon as I did get into them, it was extremely engaging and I found myself wanting more. I don't think there was any other way for this to have been done, so I don't really mind. I just write this so that if anyone is feeling put-off by those parts, just give it some time! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Pedophilia, Trafficking, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit