Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

20 reviews

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

Finished reading: January 15th 2025

"That was what the books did—they turned off your thinking for you, put their thoughts in your head so you wouldn't have your own."

I'm a fan of Simone St. James' writing and I love a good historical gothic thriller, so I'm honestly still not sure why it took me this long to actually pick up my copy of The Broken Girls. I'm definitely kicking myself now though, because while not my absolute favorite story written by her, I still ended up having an excellent time reading it. This book uses a dual timeline structure, switching between 1950 with four different POVs and 2014 with one POV. I personally did feel we didn't need the POVs of all four girls in the 1950s timeline; it made it harder to connect to them and I would have much preferred a focus on just one or two of the girls instead. That said, I did enjoy the 1950 timeline with the school setting and the paranormal/gothic/ghost element is well incorporated. I confess that ghost stories don't always work well for me, but I really like what this element added in The Broken Girls. The 2014 timeline focuses on Fiona, who is a journalist with a complicated past. It did take me some time to warm up to her and she could get frustrating at times, but I liked the investigation into Idlewild and the way certain facts were slowly revealed. The two timelines are initially only connected by location rather than the characters, but everything comes together in the end. I did see some of the twists coming, but there were also a couple surprises and as a whole I really enjoyed my time with this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lindzboots's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

That was exquisite. So intriguing, so unsettling and disturbing, so excellent. The characters were all detailed and wonderful (or infuriating, depending, or both), the plot and the mystery so well-crafted, and the atmosphere incredibly creepy. The writing was absolutely wonderful - perfectly descriptive and constantly evoking just the right images and emotions. Really, really well done. The perfect read for spooky season or the early part of winter! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Xenophobia

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Classism

growfromit's review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Murder, and Abandonment

lampbee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I like her books. Ghost mysteries sound stupid on paper but the way she does them makes them entertaining :) It wrapped up so well in a way I wasn’t necessarily expecting but one that was satisfying. Vivid imagery and solid characterization of what a girls school is like. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Torture, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Genocide, Police brutality, Antisemitism, and War

Obviously a lot of the book centers around how one of the school girls

was put into Ravensbruck for aiding her mother in the allied resistance of France

Her description is moderately graphic , there really should be a

holocaust content warning option

Also I walked into it thinking there would be copaganda but it was actually in the reverse which was crucial to liking the book.

ajay913's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Antisemitism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction and War

jillie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

I don’t know what Simone St. James puts in her books but i’m officially obsessed. I doubted how she would tie together the timelines but I shouldn’t have. 

This one took me a little longer to get into than The Book of Cold Cases and The Sun Down Motel, but I was engrossed once I got into it. I really enjoyed the ensemble cast. The romance in this one wasn’t my favorite but it’s such a small plot point that it doesn’t really affect anything. 

November 2023

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Antisemitism, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Police brutality

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Rape, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Suicide attempt and Pregnancy

exlibrissum's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

matcha_cat's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Antisemitism, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Infidelity, Rape, Torture, Police brutality, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

dalek_caan's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I found the plot of this book to be really well executed. I did not expect that it would have quite so many layers as it did, I really enjoyed this author's method of storytelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Antisemitism, and Abandonment

Minor: Violence and War