Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

21 reviews

jessmv87's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gore, Drug use, Grief, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Car accident, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Gaslighting, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Murder, Misogyny, Suicide, and Torture

daydaybookbay's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I rated this book a 6.5 out of 10. The descriptions of torture get to be a bit much at times. I guessed the big twists, but I enjoyed the storyline and the small reveals. The torture content makes me question if I would read it again.

I do not recommend this book if you are triggered at all by: abuse. child abduction, drug abuse, gore, gun violence, murder, parent death, pedophilia, rape, sexual assult, suicide, torture. 

Please be aware that all of these topics and more are focused on at one point or another in this novel.

The characters are well developed and rounded. As a reader, you become invested in both the main characters as well as other characters (the father Sam, and Julia). I felt the pacing was steady and gave the perfect amount of time for buildup and resolution. Slaughter's storytelling is amazing.

Back to this trigger warnings bit. At some point, is this graphic torture for shock value? Kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder of teenagers... I almost stopped reading it. I can see it happening as I'm reading, so to have someone described as being raped by a machete... or the urine waterboarding. nope. Not my thing. Just the ongoing shock-value events in the second half are what knocked the rating down a bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Torture, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, Alcohol, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Addiction, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Trafficking, Stalking, Classism, Car accident, Cursing, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, and Infidelity

halliot's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Mucho gore, muy buen misterio, buenos personajes, hermanas que reconectan. Dolor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Blood, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Eating disorder and Panic attacks/disorders

blairlynn's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death, Blood, Sexual assault, Cursing, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Excrement, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

Spoiler Horrific, rape, kinky, bound age, teen age son video recorded all the murders, and what took place before death. shackled, when the main person died, the son took his place.

kmnva's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

I hated everything about this and how scary it was. It definitely felt like the author was going for pure shock factor most of the time. So this was scary and disturbing and worst of all utterly predictable. The setup was slightly confusing enough to where there is an air of mystery until you understand how the characters are associated. Then I - who am usually awful at predicting - could tell where the entire story went. But I thought there is so much of the book left, there’s no way I’m going to be right about this. But no I was they just took a long and loquacious road to get there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Excrement, Drug use, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Car accident, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Rape, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Trafficking, Violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

ivirtue's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Kidnapping, Torture, Murder, Blood, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Infidelity, Fatphobia, and Suicide

lexiesophocli's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

such a gripping read!! one of the only times i found myself unable and unwilling to think of a resolution - I let the book tell the story without cutting it off at the head (pardon the expression) 
at times a bit long-winded and drawn out, but i kinda liked it that way. very disturbing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Torture, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Gore, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Blood

Moderate: Car accident, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Vomit, and Infidelity

gracie98buena's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

MASSIVE trigger warnings across the board. this was definitely closer to horror in my opinion. videodrome inspired. bordering on being torture porn itself. still rocked

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Gun violence, Sexual content, Stalking, Trafficking, Excrement, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Vomit, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Torture, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual violence

katrinaburch's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Holy crap what did I just read?! The rest of Ms. Slaughter's books that I've read were great but this one?  Not so much. The mystery/suspense part of it were great and especially the big twist halfway through but were the graphic details of the violence really necessary? Absolutely not and after a while it really turned me off towards the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Vomit, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

aaronreadsatad's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Sexism, Blood, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Torture, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Kidnapping, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Child death, Drug abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, and Physical abuse