Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

42 reviews

meaghanslibrary's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Hmm I feel like this is more in between a 3.75 and a 4. 

The way I realized the author writes mysteries is with light cliffhangers. The chapters are short and alternate points of view. Each chapter ends with a bit of a longing for wanting more but it’s not so much that you’ll get nightmares or stay up all night thinking about it if you don’t read the whole book in one sitting.

To some extent, I enjoyed that for the health of my sleeping habits. But on the other hand, I think the best mysteries on the ones I couldn’t put down.

The big twist that they were a family really got me that had a lot of shock factor. But after that the subsequent twists I semi expected. For instance the connection between the housekeeper character and the granddaughter seemed the most obvious. The wine cellars being used as a way to pay for women was not surprising. The fact that Ben was still alive was kind of shocking although I did suspect the dad was in fact killed but that Ben probably also was killed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

louisesbookcorner_32's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content and Stalking

jenna_justi2004's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Ohmygod so good. Like the best read of the year so far. Multiple point of views, each complicated and confusing  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

tori2629's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this book a lot! I listened on Audiobook, and the pacing and progression kept my interest from start to finish. Sure, I guessed one or two things early on, some of the details were not super subtle, but that said, I'd say three main "reveals" were still surprising to me. None of the characters were particularly "likeable", but in this case, I didn't mind. I honestly liked it just as much as The Guest List, and I have her other books on my To-Read list. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Trafficking, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Classism

t_higgsreviews's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5

4.5 Stars
CAWPILE = 7.93

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide

lillyrose97's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

kt2e56's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

2.0

An interesting set up! Unfortunately, some shoddy performances (Mimi and The Concierge both stand out) and some truly baffling “twists” with a laughable amount of plot holes sort of takes away from what could have been an interesting mystery. 

I think hiring actual French voice actors (or in the case of The Concierge, an Albanian voice actor) would have helped quite a bit.

I also don’t believe for a second that there was any chemistry or romance between Jess and Theo so that was pretty funny to have them just fuck randomly in a bathroom.

Speaking of Jess, she was Bella Swan levels of bland which was extra apparent when other characters would try and describe her as “fiery” or “brave” or “in love with danger.” She’s quite literally none of those things? She’s just a blank slate protagonist that spends all of her time moping.

Another chemistry issue was between

Sophie and Mimi. By the end, suddenly Sophie is supposed to be a warm, doting, devoted mother? Even though for 99% of the book she doesn’t mention having children (step or otherwise) and Mimi goes on and on about her issues with her father but also never once mentions that she has a mother that she’s super close with? Really? I think the author picked the family twist without putting any actual effort into executing it realistically because it really just doesn’t hold up. At all.

This was a big disappointment for me. I’ve seen it hyped up and it really did have me interested in those first few chapters but it just seemed to spiral out of control from the author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Blood, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Suicide, Blood, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Deportation

antheakwan's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

meganpbennett's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

The Paris Apartment is an interesting thriller. While I quite enjoyed it, there were issues with the pacing - it lagged greatly in the middle - and the overall plot was a little spotty. It's also a thriller that would not necessarily hold up on a reread, as the major plot twist completely changes the entire story. It was a good thriller, if a little confusing. The ending wrapped up almost too quickly, and there were several questions at the end that went unanswered. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail