Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

11 reviews

rylin_marie's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? No

4.25

omggggg i love this series !!!

okay so for a while i shipped stevie and david, then stevie and nate, then stevie and hunter, and then overall picked david. 

the ellingham family is so dear to my heart i love them. and dottie epstein !! they all deserved sm better my heart breaks for them all. 

the only thing that annoys me is the stereotyping. this book automatically assumed all republicans are bad and racist and sexist which def isn’t true. i get there are DEFINITELY some people (not just republicans) like that and its completely disgusting bhr just assuming they all are is kinda annoying ? 

(if we’re being so fr i hated david for like 99% of the series and tbh im still not a huge fan 😭)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Torture, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Medical content, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, and Vomit

blewballoon's review

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It's hard to talk about this one without spoiling anything, I tried to avoid even reading the synopsis of these books after I started the first one and I think that's the best way to go into it. I know this isn't the true end of the series, but this book is a good stopping point if you get this far and don't immediately want to continue (which is the case for me). Overall I did enjoy this mystery and the eclectic mix of characters involved. I enjoyed the chapters from the past and then seeing the information there reflected in the present. If you are looking for a YA mystery/thriller with a romance that only kind of gets in the way, I would recommend this. There are some slightly more graphic passages dealing with deaths, especially in the parts of the story that take place in the past, but it's usually from characters describing what they experienced and the reader is just filling in the blanks.

I did figure out who was responsible for the present day deaths, but only a little bit before the reveal. I had considered a variety of suspects and I was actually really glad it wasn't some of the people I thought it might be. I think the ending was satisfying, although I wish the guilty party hadn't gone out the way they did.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Drug use, and Gun violence

rissaandherbooks's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

An amazing ending to an amazing series! If you love murder mysteries, this is a must-read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Child death, and Murder

Minor: Drug use, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Medical content, Gore, and Alcohol

r_lynn13's review

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

pigeonsallthewayd0wn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Alcohol, Blood, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Child death and Car accident

emily_mh's review against another edition

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

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

book_aesthetic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Child death, and Body horror

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death, and Mental illness

roncanread's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcohol, Addiction, and Drug use

Minor: Bullying

genny's review

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