Reviews tagging 'Child death'

When I'm Dead by Hannah Morrissey

20 reviews

katk1ndl3's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm jot a huge mystery reader, so while this book did keep my attention I didn't really like it. I liked that I couldn't figure out until the last 50 pages who had killed the girls and kidnapped Chloe. But i didn't like that as soon as you found out they got her back so quick with like no obstacles. It was too quick.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Medical content, Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Animal cruelty, Gore, and Medical trauma

bluz19's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

 This book is under the category of psychological, puzzle, multiple viewpoints, and whodunnit. The story was full of action, very much a thriller/ suspenseful vibe which kept me guessing and enthralled the entire book. It was interesting because we get the point of view of a multitude of characters throughout the story. We get a lot of intel about the case that even the characters don’t get until the end of the story. The characters feel real, you never know who is gonna be the culprit or what the “why” is until you least expect it. The book moves fast but I felt like all characters felt flushed out. Every part of the story was so thought out, the writing was beautiful, dark, and poetic. The tension, pacing, secrets/ lies, and creepy atmosphere was flooding this book. The twists/ turns in the book were definitely shocking me and became more gripping with each page turn. 

I love that this book kept me guessing, the author kept me pointing my fingers at everyone to blame. Every time I thought I had it figured out, they uncovered another layer of the crime.

If you are looking for a dark whodunnit based in teenage drama, with the turn of the parents of a missing child trying to determine where their daughter is, and all of the mental fortitude that come with that then this will be a good book for you. It does have some gruesome, descriptive scenes and teen bullying, I was very happy to have gotten to read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, and Abandonment

smottman's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Kidnapping, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, and Child death

Minor: Terminal illness

cyndi1966's review

dark mysterious tense

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Fatphobia, Suicide, Violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death

m_egg_o's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I’ve done better detective work on Facebook than that entire police department did on state funding 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Violence

Moderate: Fatphobia and Sexism

Minor: Suicide

rosesandstuff's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I had a blast reading this and never wanted to put it down!! There were one or two loose ends I don’t feel like were wrapped up perfectly but I can live with that. Perfectly set up a lot of suspicion, a great read. 
There was a bit of repetition… like during the autopsies and a lot of Rowan’s chapters toward the middle, I was getting really sick of reading her perspective. It only picked up when new evidence was introduced and then I could get back into it.
 If you read a lot of thriller / murder mysteries, you’ll probably figure out the killer faster than I did. 
Lastly, I had NO IDEA this was the third book in a series, definitely reads as a stand alone but I’m curious how it would be different if I read the previous books. 

My biggest qualm was I feel like the killer was introduced too late? But that may be a preference thing, also I didn’t love the weirdly placed short smut scene? Just took me out of the mystery for a minute, especially because they jump right back into finding the killer.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Medical trauma, Suicide, and Fatphobia

lovelymisanthrope's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

I picked this book up because it was a Book of the Month selection, and it sounded very interesting to me.
"When I'm Dead" follows Medical Examiner Rowan Winthorp. One evening, Rowan is called away to investigate the murder of one of her close friend's daughters. When she returns home, she is distraught to find her own daughter, Chloe, missing. Rowan and her husband will not rest until they bring Chloe home, but they quickly learn that they do not know their daughter as well as they thought.
I was really excited to pick this one up, but I was really underwhelmed with the story. Rowan as a character felt frantic and unhinged, which rightfully so, she was because her daughter was missing, but it hindered my reading experience from her point of view. There were additional points of view that I did not think were necessary to the story. I think we could have gotten a stronger narrative if the story was exclusively from Rowan's, or one character's, perspective.
I think the premise that Chloe's parents do not know her as well as they believed is interesting, and especially because her parents are both supposed to be such good investigators in their fields. They can solve murder cases, but they cannot tell you what is going on in their daughter's life. It made Chloe's story more heartbreaking and added to the layers of mysteries.
The great reveal of who took Chloe and why they did was underwhelming, and it felt like it came out of nowhere. I found it a little unbelievable how unstable the kidnapper/murder was, but they walked around town and lived a very normal life without any suspicious activity. I know this is probably more common than I believe, but it just did not feel like a realistic story in this context.
I will probably give Hannah Morrissey another go in the future, if she writes a different type of mystery thriller.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child death, Blood, and Murder

milesofkiles's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Violence, Murder, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

nikkic66's review

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, Murder, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Stalking, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

pagesandtales's review

adventurous 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

Moderate: Suicide, Fatphobia, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Bullying, Abandonment, and Sexism