Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

22 reviews

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

janachigo'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Stalking, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Body horror, Grief, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Gore, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Torture, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Drug abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Body shaming and Dementia

brithen's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Drug use, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Torture, Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Rape, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Sexual violence, and Violence

mahoyap's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

first half of the book pretty slow because of all the character and plot setting but once you get through that, damn, twisted after twisted. quite beyond my imagination. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

thatswhatshanread's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

A vastly gripping psychological thriller that packs punch after disturbing punch of twisted lies and chilling in-depth details about a young woman’s disappearance.

Claire and Lydia, estranged sisters brought back together by another tragedy, embark on a journey almost twenty-five years old as new clues come to light about their older sister, Julia, who went missing when she was nineteen and was never found. Nothing is as it seems as present begins to connect rather ominously with the past.

This was my first Karin Slaughter book and man, did it deliver. It’s definitely a very dark book that seems to get darker with each shocking turn, not shying away from grisly facts or chilling thoughts. The writing was intense, fast-paced, evocative. Slaughter’s words made the story so vivid and realistic, my heart pounding the whole way through as if I were one of Julia’s sisters, too. 

If you’re a fan of Gillian Flynn, you’ll also devour this one. I found their writing styles quite similar and engaging.

I loved the way this story played out, the different story arcs that came to fruition. Of course, the subject matter is even more sinister then you’d imagine out the gate, but it was used so well in this one. 

I suspect I will be thinking of this book for a long time!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Alcoholism, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Addiction, Gore, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Suicide, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcohol, Body shaming, Excrement, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, and Gun violence

Minor: Body horror

mackenzieheidt's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

lilifane's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I'm conflicted. On the one hand, this is an extremely well-crafted book, the writing and plotting are exceptional, the character work is amazing, the story is intriguing and thrilling and emotional. But on the other hand, there are really graphic description of violence, rape, and torture. I was disgusted and sick to my stomach. But then again... that was probably the point. I mean, I would be worried if someone wasn't affected by reading those scenes. So if you consider reading this book, please look up the trigger and content warnings. There is a LOT. 

So, except for these scenes, I really enjoyed the book. There was actually a perfect balance of humor, emotions, mystery, and horror. The twists the story took gave me whiplash, and I was terrified for the characters. The thing that stood out to me the most were the family dynamics, though. Between parents and parents and their children, but especially between sisters. Those were so realistic and complicated, and I loved it. It reminded me so much of me and my siblings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

ohmyohmaggie's review

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

Fantastic read - gripping plot, fleshed out characters, well-paced. However, this was very very very very very dark and gruesome. I love thrillers and can generally handle twisted stuff in books, but this was hard for me. Graphically brutal descriptions of violence and torture. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

perplexed's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

2.25

Once again I'm coming in with a really torn review 

I will say now that there might be some spoilers in this review, and I'll flag them, but proceed with caution. Also TW: I reference SA and violence in this review

There were elements of this book I loved. The whole idea of "how well do you really know someone" is a trope I love to see explored, and this book started off doing that really well. I also really loved the main characters, Claire and Lydia, and part of the reason I finished the book was because I wanted to make sure they got out of their shenanigans okay.

I call it shenanigans because why wouldn't you get law enforcement involved, like surely if the FBI was there you'd be like hey so uh there's all this shit happening with my husband, here look at these videos, please help. Totally get the whole police and criminal corruption thing, but Fred Nolan was very obviously not involved with that (his interview with Claire later on in the book clearly showed this I think

 

That being said, so much of this book felt like gratuitous detail. I get that you want to make it clear how brutal something is, but you could get that without needing to graphically describe acts of SA and torture. I love body horror and gore, but the repeated graphic descriptions were *a lot* and I really recommend giving this book a skip if you're effected by any of the trigger warnings mentioned on these reviews. 

Also, shout out to the fact that either Claire or Karin Slaughter thinks that TOR is an illegal file sharing site. Very much legal, it's just a browser like Google Chrome but it doesn't track you, so I think TOR is actually the real good guy in this book. 

PS. Dad if you're reading this hello, please don't judge me for the books I've been reading recently, I've been on a kick of gross books ever since American Psycho but none seem to scratch the itch of violence with a message and they've all just landed on gratuitous violence instead :-( onto a Christmas romance novel next though so, bet you can't wait for that review! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Death, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Body shaming, Car accident, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

maddiegrace's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, Torture, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Body horror, Blood, and Addiction