Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

114 reviews

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Incest, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow! This is a play on classic gothic revival novels combined with a modern horror sensibility and Mexican history. This book has atmosphere in spades, and Noemí is a great character. Her voice is snappy and fun, and I love seeing a character doing her best to take charge even in the situation she's in. 

Once the twist hits this book swings for the fences, and while I did think the last couple of chapters dragged on a bit too long overall I really liked this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Incest, Racism, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, and Religious bigotry

skittles6815's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

I hated this book.

It felt like the author wrote it while only thinking about incest with a grandfather. It was so gross the whole time, and really bad writing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Confinement, Excrement, and Gaslighting

itshrewsbury's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

For the first half or so, it didn’t seem particularly interesting or different than any other gothic novel, but Moreno-Garcia sets up every plot point very early and reinforces very well. And that’s what makes the last half interesting, and the last ~60 pages FANTASTIC. It’s definitely a slow burn though.

Also spoilers without spoiling: https://open.spotify.com/track/2b7aqG...

18+

TW/CW: gore, body horror, attempted/implied sexual assault, kidnapping/being forcefully held, unreality/hallucinations, drug use, incest, murder, cult 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Incest, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual assault

isleoflinds's review against another edition

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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Medical content, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

opal_scorpio's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This mystery took many turns I was not expecting at all.

I think the dreams/hallucinations and their indistinguishability from reality was the best part of this novel. As a reader, I was questioning if what was happening was real or not just as the main character was.

This book was written in a way that your imagination could take over and it made every description even scarier. By the end, I was tearing through the pages trying to read as fast as I could because I was so invested and curious about what would happen next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Rape

kels24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

serinalovesreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Incest, Racism, Suicide, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gun violence and Sexual content

szuum's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

redbirdreading's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual harassment