Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf

45 reviews

cassie7e's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.5

This book was fine. Not boring emough to intentionally put down but I wouldn't bother picking it back up if I'd been interrupted. I predicted some of the twists at the end, except for the one with barely any clues, though I was able to rule out all the red herrings the book tried too hard to convince us were candidates.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Kidnapping, Death, Child death, Gun violence, Murder, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Car accident, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Blood, Cancer, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

babyjay's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

The suspense of this book was pretty intense for me, and I won’t lie, I seriously considered turning on a night light! I’m pretty wimpy but the story had enough of a hook to keep me engaged. It’s a good book and if you like crime/suspense novels pick it up! I won’t go into plot details, just wanted to give my two cents on why this isn’t a 5 star for me. 

It should be. The characters are complex and realistic even in extraordinary situations. However, the snippets told from law enforcement perspective are just a little too hero worship-y for me. The stereotypical badass female from headquarters with an eagle eye and a soft touch for witnesses, the rogue cop with his own rules who will stop at nothing to chase a lead, the good hearted sherif that just really *knows* these people. 

Not only is it boring but dangerous! Telling stories where cops who terrorize to get information are doing the “wrong thing for the right reasons” glamorizes the abusive system that kills and brutalizes just because they can. The author also leans heavily on the self destructive alcoholic war veteran who creeps everyone out. The man has severe PTSD that goes untreated along with a difficult and painful life. Writing him into a story in such an unforgiving way and continuing to abuse his character throughout the book is gross. Vets have enough trouble as it is, no need to perpetuate the stereotypes of them being violent, dangerous, and unstable. 

The chapters in this book that include the aforementioned BS are short and infrequent, get swollowed up by the actual action of the story, and generally have very little to do with the plot. If you can ignore the filler it’s worth a read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Torture, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, Car accident, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Rape, Terminal illness, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, and Physical abuse

annelihghh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Death of parent, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Confinement, Child death, Abandonment, Vomit, Miscarriage, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Death, Misogyny, and Car accident

Moderate: Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Cursing, Alcohol, Gore, and Sexual assault

bluevirgo's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Car accident, Miscarriage, and Murder

Minor: Sexual assault

wonderfulxwonderful's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Vomit, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Murder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Car accident, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Rape, and Alcohol

fi_reads_books's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Vomit, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, Confinement, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Car accident

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Alcohol

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

_savannahreads_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Violence, Murder, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury

meeranair_54's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, and Adult/minor relationship