Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf

66 reviews

zoiejanelle's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

1.5

this is a contemporary murder mystery that places the victim at the center of the story. the premise is cool and the triple timeline/POV was a concept that definitely piqued my interest... but...
 
listen, if you like predictable thrillers with plot points that scream "cheap shock value," this is a fine book. actually, this was a good book! until what was supposed to be the big plot twist. kirkus reviews got it right this time: "Tense, taut, and terrifying—until the reveal. Read the first 43 chapters and be satisfied."

spoilers: the murderer is mentioned once in the beginning of the book, and the reveal leaves you asking, "wait, what the hell? who is this guy?"

instead of a well-done whodunnit, the author closed her eyes, spun around, and pointed at the first character she saw. the suspense immediately deflated, and there was no closure or compelling explanation to why the crime happened whatsoever. it was extremely amateur, and very disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Car accident, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

nataliereadz's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Oh man! Don't let the title sway your decision to pick this up - I put it off for ages as I thought "ugh another superficial, typical thriller trope". But nope! This novel is crazy dark and goes to all kinds of twisted places. We follow three different story lines that span across a couple decades and while that might sound choppy on the surface, they seam together effortlessly.  Though be warned, one particular story line is full of all kinds of triggers. The twists were spot on and kept me guessing to the very end. Also pretty cool that the author churned this out during the thick of the pandemic! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, Death, Torture, Death of parent, and Car accident

alexreads22's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug use, Gun violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, and Violence

whatathymeitwas's review against another edition

challenging 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Whew! I just read this in two evenings and I'm surprised I managed to put it down in the middle for even the amount of time I did. It kept me up reading until 5am last night.

I'm my opinion, this is very will written. I don't run into that many books that make me feel like I'm a string being slowly wound up at an ever-increasing speed and intensity, but this one did. I literally felt my heart rate go up during certain scenes. For an author to actually physically affect me, I'm impressed.

I won't get into the plot or anything that might be a spoiler, but this story was just aces. I had no idea who the fingers were going to eventually end up pointed at, and most of my guesses ended up being wrong. It took me til the last quarter to even figure out all the other perspectives and how they tied together. Provided, I'm not always exceptionally good at figuring out the mystery, but this one especially had me mind boggled.

This would be a great pick for anyone who enjoys extremely suspenseful suspense novels, and it would probably work exceptionally well as a winter read— in the dark, when it's snowing and chilled outside. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Cancer

robinudell's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

This book requires some serious suspension of disbelief regarding survival in blizzards, but otherwise is a well composed and satisfying thriller. The multiple viewpoints were effective and balanced, and the red herrings weren't egregious. I always appreciate when friendship between girls/women is highlighted as a strength, and this story had some great moments there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Murder, and Child abuse

Moderate: Rape

mydearwatsonbooks's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Pregnancy, and Vomit

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty

rosemaryslibrarian's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

dogearedbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Stalking, Gun violence, Rape, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this. I liked that it was duel timelines because I find it easy to get engaged because you want to know what going on in the time lines. I did think this was going to be like an isolated thriller and it was to an extent, but not as much as I hoped. I also liked the true crime aspect to this because I honestly had no clue what this was about so that was a fun surprise. That being said I did guess everything because I thought it was obvious, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Alcoholism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Abortion, Car accident, Confinement, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual violence

j_squaredd's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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? No

2.5

This is just a run of the mill, predictable thriller with so-so writing. I figured out the bulk of the twist about a quarter in and the other part of the twist was based on things the author didn’t really give you a way to know.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Physical abuse, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual assault