Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

8 reviews

saintmaud's review against another edition

mysterious fast-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

unbelievable how this would have all been avoided if everyone learnt to mind their own business and before you get started about how tragedies look avoidable from the outside know that the writing isn't good enough to justify it. I read Sager's books (and others similar in genre + format) because I want something fast paced and twisty, writing quality aside, but this just felt too trite and derivative (a pet cemetery on the property?? wow) and I'm just more irritated now.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicide, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol

emilyf02's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Child death

julienicole1106's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Grief, Cancer, Suicide, Vomit, Murder, Stalking, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Child abuse, Blood, and Death of parent

mblanke's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Death, and Child death

Minor: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Blood, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Grief

jrharris's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, Murder, and Child death

crosberg's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Definitely not for the faint of heart and if you want something more like a haunted house story and less like the tale of the terrible things people can do to each other, this might not be the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Child abuse, Murder, and Suicide

Minor: Violence

The book does discuss in detail a very lengthly period of gaslighting by parents to their child. It also mentions child abuse, murder, and suicide. There are also rumors about grooming a teenage girl.

seawarrior's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Home Before Dark is an engaging read that glued me to its pages, but began to lose my suspension of disbelief near the end. The title is narrated by the text of the notorious House of Horrors and the inner thoughts of its now grown feature character Maggie Holt, who lived her life in the shadow of her father's writing. Early on it becomes obvious that we're not reading a story of a haunting, but rather one of a series of lies that spirals into a decades old "whodunnit". Sager presents just the right amount of description for us to richly imagine Baneberry Hall without losing momentum in the plot, or creating something that felt like a drudgery to read. Yet to me, the ending twists were more annoying than satisfying, as the sheer amount of them seemed unnecessary and almost silly. I would still recommend this book to others who enjoy a mystery novel that it almost effortless to read. There was never a period where reading this book felt tedious, and I repeatedly looked forward to spending more time with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, and Suicide

toofondofbooks_'s review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

I don't even know what to say y'all
I don't know what I expected but it wasn't this. This book scared me so much. I'm scared of armoires now. I feel like I can't really talk about this book effectively while still keeping it spoiler free, but I think what I will say is that I did not see the ending coming and I can't tell if I was disappointed by it or not. I opted for the 4 star rating bc of my confusion in relation to that, but overall this was a very immersive and well written book that I think you'll love if you're into horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Suicide, Cancer, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Child abuse, Animal death, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, and Forced institutionalization