Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - The Good Girl

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

cpalmmoo's review

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Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

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astoriareader's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

SYNOPSIS:

Mia has been kidnapped. Mia is in her 20s. She’s the black sheep in her family. She’s a school teacher.
James and Eve are Mia’s parents. James is a prominent judge, and he cares a lot about image.
Grace is Mia’s sister, and she is the golden child. She followed in her father’s footsteps & went to law school.
Gabe is the detective assigned to Mia’s case.
Colin is the kidnapper, who is working for someone else. At the beginning of book, we learn he kidnaps her to actually help her & goes against the wishes of the person that hired him.

MY THOUGHTS

I had no idea this was Mary Kubica’s debut novel. Clearly, I have been reading hers in all kinds of order. She has quickly become one of favorite writers in the thriller/suspense genre.
This was set in Chicago, which I loved. Since I used to live in Chicago, it was easy to visualize neighborhoods and cross streets.
I read this in 24 hours, and I couldn’t put it down.
Excellent character development.
Multiple POVs. Told from perspectives of Eve, Gabe, Colin. In the epilogue, we are also offered Mia’s perspective.
All the characters are written really well. There’s no cheap writing tactics here. The perspectives come from each character’s world views. Although all the characters are flawed, Kubica deftly makes them understandable.
Well-plotted & expertly crafted.
Lots of twists, suspense, & drama. Complex family dynamics as well.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️read in 24 hours. Kubica is Queen of character development & plotting a gripping story.

Content Warnings

cailyne's review against another edition

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dark slow-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? No

1.0

This book….where to begin?

I read this as part of a buddy read and my buddies kept me from DNFing. I definitely would’ve without them because by 50% I was just wishing the book would be over.

Every character is toxic. Every plot point made me think “why?” There’s no redemptive value. The dual timeline jumping created a false sense of suspense that didn’t materialize into anything worth that slow burn.

The twist at the end doesn’t satisfy. Every problem in this book could’ve been handled through effective communication skills rather than what happened.

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kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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challenging 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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

As thrillers go, this one did not keep me on the edge of my seat the way I would like. I didn’t love the way the chapters went back and forth between before and after the main character is returned to her family. I kept reading to discover the reason for one key plot detail to be exposed and when it was, it was less than compelling. I found the story to be believable, probably because the twists weren’t all that dramatic. The epilogue came as no shock to me as I guessed this person’s connection to the crime about a hundred pages prior due to a bit of foreshadowing that was too on the nose. I feel the book and the premise are just okay, not great and not terrible. It’s just an average thriller to me.

ETA: after thinking on it for a few days, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this book has some subtle language that is somewhat racist in nature. The comments I’m referring to made me feel uncomfortable as a white woman, reading a book written by another white woman. Definitely something to think about…

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espressoreader's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

He is so poor he never had a Christmas gift, but he was in Boy Scouts. 😂🤣😂

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redhothabanero's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-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

2.0

There was very little suspense in this book since we find out right away that Mia is rescued. All the characters were flat and two dimensional (especially the dad who was cartoonishly bad). There was really nobody I was rooting for or even cared about. I guessed the "twist" about a third of the way in and it wasn't even a good one because it left me very annoyed. Also, the not so subtle anti-choice talk coming from Eve and the racism/classism when describing people of color was gross.

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hkburke2's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I read the whole thing, mostly because it was audio and it was recommended to me... This was not tense or thrilling and the racism and sexism and toxicity in the relationships started to feel unintentional which is... Just icky. Not for me.

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karinaalyse's review

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dark emotional slow-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? It's complicated

1.5

I mean, it was slow. The ending was so predictable, especially when compared to Gone Girl. It was very built up and ended flat and dull. There isn’t a lot of development and the “twist” is kind of lame, in my opinion. It’s an easy page turner but nothing stuck out at me begging me actually keep turning. I was doing it just to finish it.

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