Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

24 reviews

rchatterjee188's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Infidelity, Grief, Ableism, Car accident, and Abandonment

Minor: Blood, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, and Confinement

samluh's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Very good pay off at the end! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, Grief, Gore, Death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Animal death, Alcohol, Sexual content, Bullying, Blood, Gun violence, Child death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Abandonment

misti's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

"We all have our own version of the truth, and it is rarely whole."

"Life is a performance, and we don’t all like the scripts we’re given; sometimes it’s best to write your own."

I have very mixed feelings about this one. 

Most thrillers/mystery have three main questions, who did it, how did they do it, and why they did it. 

Finding out who killed them was kind of predictable. I mean it made sense it was them, but still. 

Why they killed them? Now that was plot twist. I did not see that coming. This whole goddam family sucks. They are really the worst. They did a horrible thing and went on living for years, did not care who they hurt. So glad they are all dead. Not one person who died was worth saving. 

I know this is very vague but I am trying to avoid spoilers. 
Well all I wanna say is that I liked it, but the killer reveal was a let down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism and Abandonment

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Bullying, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Body horror, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, and Grief

annaonthepage's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This was a fun play on classic murder mysteries with a supernatural twist.

Great sense of voice for the ensemble of characters, and very well narrated on the audiobook. A little overwrought, and has some repetition that could have been edited out, so at times it feels a bit more like juvenile fiction than an adult murder mystery. I guess those are the trappings of part of the story. Very enjoyable, if not entirely convincing/satisfying in the reveal and wrap-up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, and Child death

The sexual assault is a very brief encounter between an 18yo and a 13yo, both drunk, and the 13yo tells the reader she is pleased at the attention, but it's already an uncomfortable situation and a polluted power dynamic. Thankfully this doesn't go all the way and ends when the girl says no.

katiemhuang's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Car accident, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Murder, and Emotional abuse

mdavis26's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, Car accident, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Blood, and Death of parent

nialiversuch's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual content

micaelamariem's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

 

I always surprise myself when I opt to pick up a thriller/mystery, and I surprise myself even more when I actually like it. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney, published by Flatiron Books, was my Book of the Month choice from last summer. 

I think most people, if you aren't me, have heard of Alice Feeney. She was a BBC reporter for fifteen years before finding success in her writing. Since then, her novels have found international success. Daisy Darker is her fifth novel. 

Daisy Darkeris a locked room mystery. When the Darker family returns to a tiny tidal island off of Cornwall to celebrate Nana's 80th birthday, a storm brews both outside and in. At midnight, Nana is found dead. An hour later, the next family member follows. The remaining Darker family need to figure out who is behind the murders or risk not surviving the night. 

"Don't spend all your ambition on other people's dreams." 

This book is clearly a retelling of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, and it reminded me of that the whole read. However, some other books that might be similar are The Guest List by Lucy Foley, One by One by Ruth Ware, and The Family Game by Catherine Steadman.  

I really enjoyed this book, despite my general aversion to mysteries. This one was exciting. But beyond that, Alice Feeney has a very prolific writing style. Her sentences are beautiful and calls to something deeper. She is able to have the main character reflect on past traumas and her dysfunctional family and find a deeper meaning in that, even while something nefarious is going on around her. 

Don't get me wrong--even while the main character looks for redeemable qualities in her family, they are still mostly unlikable. Perhaps that is a necessary quality so that the reader doesn't get too sad when/if one of them dies. It did make me sad for the main character however, and the trauma she grew up with. 

The way the plot twist is set up is also very clever. I'm not going to spoil anything, but it's those kind of books where things might start to make sense if you go back through a second time. I'm tempted to. However, I still didn't like the plot twist--it seemed a bit far-fetched and fantastical and I wasn't expecting it (I suppose that's the point of a plot twist--but it was so unexpected that it jerked me out of the story). 

I also loved the parallel of the past and the present so we can see how the whole family got to be as broken as it was. Plus, the flashbacks do provide some vital clues to the killer and motive. Though, I must say, I completely missed it. 

So....due to me being gripped by the story the whole way, the beautiful writing, intense characters but somewhat disappointing plot twist I give this book four stars. And I still do highly recommend it to locked room thriller lovers and anyone that likes things a little creepy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Grief, Murder, Death of parent, Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Suicide, Violence, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I was extremely into this story, and I appreciated the story the whole way through. The writing may have had a tiny edit for my preference, but I will definitely read this author again. Love a twisty tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death, Blood, Chronic illness, Bullying, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child death, Gore, Classism, Animal death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Suicide, Body shaming, Infidelity, and Pregnancy