Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

21 reviews

mostdefinitelystephanie's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I read this for my library book club. I can't say I loved the book but I liked it good enough. It does read as the first of a series where you'll probably learn more about the characters in the next installment.
The story was interesting though predictable. It kept me engaged and I read this book in a couple days. I mostly listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a good job. 
I didn't really like Joe just showing up at a nursing home thinking, "Oh I can just find an old person there." Did he not ever meet a single other person outside his family back in Austin, MN? The director of nursing and receptionist majorly broke HIPAA laws within 5 minutes of meeting him. I feel like Joe is ultimately a good guy but he's too "macho" for me to say I liked him.
I wanted more character development of Lila.

She very quickly went from uninterested neighbor to coming in the room after he was injured to randomly sleep with him and started a relationship with him. It really seemed to me that the author just wanted to put a sex scene in there.

 
Jeremy's character was very one dimensional as well. I almost feel like he was just used as a prop. I think many on the spectrum would have an issue with his portrayal.
However, I did like Carl. He was probably my favorite character.
Anyway, it's not a book I'll be going out of my way to recommend to others but it was an enjoyable quick read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Addiction, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

fluture's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

An enjoyable book to be read if you are looking for a light mystery and thriller without plot twists. I love how intense every chapter is, the author knows how to make us feel intrigued to continue reading it in one sit. Each character was described in a way where we were expected to understand why they acted that way now. Although it has predictable plot, it is still worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, War, Rape, Death, Violence, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Chronic illness, Sexism, Stalking, Xenophobia, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Alcoholism

The ending is very much predictable and satisfying. Looks a lot like average thriller movies.

kinreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

Another captivating novel by Allen Eskens. I found parts of this one to be more graphic than some of the others and had a hard time pushing through those parts but still a gripping story, nonetheless. I read the third book in this series first and so going back in time was quite cool - although I really enjoyed the narration from Lila's perspective in the third book even more. Can't wait to keep reading his books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Gun violence, War, Rape, Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual assault, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

Minor: Death of parent

friends2lovers's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense fast-paced

1.5

I'm trying to read more of my owned books in 2023 and this is one of many audiobooks I've had in my Audible library for years and never listened to.  When I was scrolling through my audible app, the wintery cover caught my eye, and that's pretty much how I came to finally listen to this.  Mysteries and thrillers are not usually my genre, so I'm not sure why I bought this in the first place.  Maybe it was a daily deal?  Anyway, I did like the narrator, Zach Villa.  He kind of sounded like a young Armie Hammer.  The story was decent, but a little predictable.  I didn't connect with any of the characters enough to want to read more of Esken's novels, which are apparently all set in the same Minnesota town.  Overall, it was okay/fine.  Mostly I'm just glad to finally mark this as read and move on to another book.

Series: On his website, Esken says, "My books are not a series, but rather character arcs that revolve around a small community."   

Genres: Mystery, Thriller

Tags: winter, amateur detective, college-age MC

Setting: Minnesota, in late fall and early winter

Protagonist: Joe Talbert 

Point-of-View: 1st person, past tense

Length: 8h 24m, 333 pages, 90k words (novel)

Format: audiobook from Audible

Narrator: Zach Villa

Read Date: 08 Jan 2023

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Ableism, War, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Abandonment, Sexual content, Cancer, Mental illness, Self harm, Alcoholism, and Addiction

book_buddy_rob'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? Yes

5.0

This book was really interesting. I wasn’t expecting it to be a slower read, but that’s what I ended up really enjoying about it because it is a really in depth story about not just a murder investigation but a story about overcoming trauma.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Murder

reading_binosaur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

If I could give this book more stars I absolutely would because it was PHENOMENAL!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Chronic illness, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, and Rape

Moderate: War, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, and Gun violence

shibaunited's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Great story, engaging writing and narration. There are a few weird sexist comments and some racial comments which are intentional. But overall the story is good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, War, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Blood, Death, Incest, Kidnapping, Ableism, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Sexual content

gabbygabbygabby's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

alyssamc18's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

lostinthelibrary's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.75

This book had an interesting premise and started well. I really liked the protagonist especially his relationship with his brother. I was hoping for a dark book that would look at how people are judged and whose version of events we could really trust and I did get glimpses of that at first.

However, the last third of the book (general spoiler, not specific)

devolved into a generic crime thriller plot with a cartoonish villain and 'action' scenes

. Very disappointing, I wanted more than surface level. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Rape, Murder, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Cancer and Chronic illness