Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier

42 reviews

hannahga'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I quite enjoyed the process of reading this book. Chapters were a nice length, it was suspenseful, I cared about the outcome, I thought the characters were interesting, it was a nice length, and it was fairly unique despite having many familiar to the genre elements. It was not groundbreaking and I felt that pretty much all of the twists / secrets coming to light weren't especially shocking. But that's completely fine by me because I still cared about the secrets and fully bought in to the ride I was on. Because it was done well!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Pedophilia, Racism, Murder, Suicide, Death, and Blood

ashleyalyse's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Violence, Suicide, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, Child abuse, and Rape

ms3333's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Racism, and Murder

kitkatreads_khadeejah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Death, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Dementia, Body shaming, Bullying, and Racism

clevelandbookgirl'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Cursing, Rape, Racism, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Gore

Moderate: Drug abuse, Vomit, Drug use, Dementia, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

kariereads's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

a little disappointed by this book, especially after really loving Jar of Hearts! i guess i was just expecting more of a mystery, even the twists that happened at the end didn't really shock me. the main character was interesting enough to keep reading, and i wish

we would've gotten more insight in to her & drew's relationship in the past.

overall, i wanted more from this book but it was a miss for me. still excited to make my way through Jennifer's backlist!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racism

dalmavatai's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was my first Jennifer Hillier and I really enjoyed it! The themes are quite dark but there is an interesting cast of characters both in the past and present timelines, and great plot points that make for an engaging and gripping story. This book had my attention the entire time for these reasons. There are some surprising reveals at the end as well as some reveals throughout the book - I would've wanted them to be a bit more shocking but they were okay. Overall, a solid thriller and I will be checking out more of this author's work. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction, Dementia, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Suicide attempt

haleysversion's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Violence

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

This is my first book by Jennifer Hillier and unfortunately it wasn’t a win for me. I really enjoyed the first quarter of the story from Paris Peralta’s perspective as she’s trying to navigate the criminal justice system after the suspicious death of her much older husband. I found this part intriguing and mysterious, but once it transitioned to the second part where the focus was on Drew, I just did not feel engaged with the story. I found Drew’s judgmental and slut-shaming attitude really through me off.

And just a heads up, there’s a huge focus on detailed child abuse and trauma, which I was not expecting from this book, and I probably wouldn’t have picked this one up if I had known that. As well, the mystery seemed to have just been figured out about halfway through, and then just when the tension started rising again, everything just sort of resolved itself, so it just left me feeling like everything wrapped up way too quickly, which was unsatisfying. 

I did enjoy Hillier’s writing style though and I’d definitely still be willing to check out more by this author—if you’ve read anything else by her, let me know another of hers that I should pick up.

Thanks St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books & Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this one!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Rape, Self harm, Murder, Classism, Incest, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

neniacorcoran's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this one when I first started reading it. The opening line was pretty epic, but diving right into Paris’ arrest before I was invested in caring about her almost didn’t work for me. I’m glad I hung on, though, because I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Grief, Incest, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Cursing, Dementia, Fatphobia, Racism, and Suicide attempt