Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

25 reviews

atamano's review

adventurous funny tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexism

Minor: Abandonment

seekittyread's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. I am not usually one to tag quotes while I read, but there are several sticky notes sticking out of the side of this book. Getting to read a story about women over the age of fifty is a novelty and I'm glad it stood up to the challenge. Billie is a great narrator and I love the banter between women who have known eachother for decades. It also was just twisty enough that I was never certain how it was going to end and I appreciate that. I hope that the success of this book might encourage other authors to write books where there characters aren't all in their twenties and thirties.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Moderate: Drug use, Sexism, Grief, Misogyny, Abandonment, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer, Racism, and Pregnancy

helliepad's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

3.75

A charming story! It delivered its premise of "retired female assassins get targeted by their company. actions to follow" good enough that it kept me reading. The sheer novelty of reading about old women kicking ass and taking names is great, and while the book didn't have much drama or tension between its main characters, it was fine, because they were facing enough challenges due to their age and the amount of action it takes to get through a simple mission of theirs.

What I love most about the stories is how kind it is to women, and the relationships they formed. The main characters have been assassins for over four decades. I love the little bits of history, of grief from dead people and love at the wrong time. There are sexually active old women, a heavily pregnant woman in charge of heavy operations, a teenage girl doing her best, a childless woman who survived their partner, a childless woman with her wife and their cat, a childless woman who chose career over love— and they weren't shamed by the narrative for their characters. Indeed, there weren't any serious academic discussions about sexism and misogyny and ageism although the women do experience it, and yet it doesn't matter because that's not the point of the book.

The point of the book was to show these senior citizens bludgeon and lie and cheat and work together to get their rightful pensions– and the book delivers beautifully on that end. 👏 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Blood and Violence

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Misogyny, and Sexism

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Body shaming, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Cursing, Death, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Medical content

Minor: Toxic relationship, Animal death, Car accident, Chronic illness, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Cancer, Rape, Self harm, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Torture, and War

xeniba's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

A quick, fun read. I enjoyed having older women as the main characters. At times the narrative was hard to follow as were the details of the physical locations, but that didn’t really negatively affect my experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Misogyny, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Cancer, and Fatphobia

mandkips's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexism, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer

oceanwriter's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-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

2.0

The summary of this book promises a lot. When I saw it was included in the Book of the Month lineup, I made this my selection for the month without even looking at the others being offered. At a glance, it sounds like an action-packed take on the Golden Girls. In a way, it is, but as far as the story is concerned, it fell through the cracks for me.

Having spent most of their lives working as assassins, Billie, Natalie, Mary Alice, and Helen are heading into retirement. What they think is a grand send-off turns out to be a setup. Is there such a thing as retirement for people who know too much? Their vacation turns into a game of survival.

I'm grateful to have read this as part of a buddy read because I was feeling bad about my lack of interest past the first chapter. The person I was reading with had many of the same thoughts as the story progressed, the biggest quip being how difficult the story was to follow. I'm no stranger to non-linear timelines. In a lot of cases I enjoy them more than going straight from A to Z. Unfortunately, this was not one of those situations. I didn't find the story at all engaging and it was crasser than I care for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Despite all the killing, Killers of a Certain Age was a fun read.  Only the main character, Billie/the narrator, was fully fleshed out as a character, but if this becomes a series, I hope we'll get to know the rest as well.  The assassinations were both inventive and exciting.  I think you'd like this book if you prefer a slightly humorous take on assassins.  I especially liked the depictions of women around the age of 60.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Stalking, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Murder, Torture, Alcohol, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Forced institutionalization, and Homophobia

wai's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexism, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, and Cancer