Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

15 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

m4rtt4's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.25

You know a story is well created when you can stretch a single murder mystery into 3 books! Things wrapped up nicely in this finale, and even though I guessed the final plot twist quite early on, I wasn't disappointed or bored but rather excited to see my own predictions become true. This one wasn't as thrilling as the second one, The Vanishing Stair (my fave in the trilogy), and so it doesn't deserve that high of a rating because

the snowed-in part seemed to drag on for ever and ever and also there were too many scenes where they just read Edward King files with nothing exciting happening

but yeah, still a great book which I binge-read quite fast.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

tangleroot_eli's review

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

A satisfying but not overly pat resolution to the mystery! Not a lot of David! MOOSE!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Child death

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Drug use, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent

thebookpaiges's review

emotional mysterious tense fast-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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cursing, Child death, Death, and Mental illness

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

strongsun's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

4.5

Bit annoying nothing came up about the dna or whatever proof it was that Alice's estate had so stevie didnt technically solve the mystery

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Infidelity, and Gun violence

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

marsellosis's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

4.0

didn't leave me wanting for more, i was left very satisfied. moose was a very nice touch. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Child death, Death, and Grief

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

sankta_aleena's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief