Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Maid by Nita Prose

27 reviews

startjpw23's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This book is a mystery novel. The main character is Molly Gray. Molly tells the story in the first person. She works as a maid at an upscale hotel. Molly is intelligent. She has trouble understanding social cues. She doesn't understand the nuances of language. She was raised by her grandmother (her mother deserted her when she was an infant). Some of her fellow employees make fun of her. They think she is weird. Molly tends to think the best of people. Sometimes this costs her. She is very good at her job. The rooms she cleans are spotless after she is done. She is very detail oriented. She has a great memory of details. Early in the book, she finds a dead body in a room she is cleaning. The remainder of the book is Molly and others trying to determine who killed the man. I really liked Molly. I liked the resolution of the mystery. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a complex mystery with an engaging heroine who is taken for granted by most people. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture, Death, and Domestic abuse

seismicality's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this book, the plot twist at the end really surprised me!  I don't think I've read a book before with the point-of-view of someone who is autistic (or at least heavily implied to be) - which is great representation for Neurodiverse folks. The depiction was well written, although I believe it fell into quite a few stereotypes - which took away from that slightly. Overall a good book :) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Torture, Terminal illness, Deportation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Gun violence, Addiction, and Eating disorder

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

   Molly, a neurodivergent maid, finds the rich and mean Mr. Black dead in his bed. It turns out he was murdered. And Molly ends up under suspicion for his murder. But some of the people at the hotel are not who they seem. And they may have used Molly's neurodivergence to their advantage. 
   I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I know some said it was inconsistent, but I find that, as a neurodivergent person, I can see how her seemingly very shifting rules don't shift as much as they seem to do to some people. I know that certain rules in my mind are different than how a "normal" person may have their rules. And once you get to the end it all makes sense, at least to me. 
   I didn't guess the killer, though I guess another one of the "plot twists" (the one with her grandmother.)

Narrator Rating: 3.5 stars
  She did a decent job but for most of the book she had kind of pout to her voice which was childlike and annoying for a 20-something woman.

Elemental Levels:  Fluff-3.5/5  Heartfelt-3/5   Helpful-NA     Horror-NA  Inspiration-NA  
Love aka Romance-2/5   Mystery-5/5     Predictability-2.5/5   Spice-NA    Suspense-2/5    Tear- 3/5  Thrill-1.5/5  Humor-1/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Misogyny, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Violence, Classism, Mental illness, Alcohol, Death, Gaslighting, Racism, Grief, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Deportation, Ableism, Cancer, Sexism, Chronic illness, and Confinement

Moderate: Torture, Gun violence, Murder, Drug abuse, Suicide, Body horror, Addiction, Police brutality, Slavery, Blood, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Xenophobia, Medical content, Death of parent, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, and Medical content

miniingrid's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

Nunca pensé que la protagonista de un murder mystery iba a darle un abrazo reconfortante a mi yo adolescente. Con algunas diferencias, pero menos de las que me gustaría...
Ha sido un viaje interesante. Gracias por tanto, Molly.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, and Murder

Minor: Torture, Terminal illness, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Sexism, Deportation, and Alcoholism

emma_sky's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Physical abuse, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Torture, and Classism

amarahk's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

I would not have expected to enjoy this book, but I adored it! The writer wrote in such a way, that I could relate to Molly thoroughly, despite not having much in common. She did an excellent job of making the book feel very real and made me empathise with Molly. I felt every emotion reading this book to be honest and I read it in just two sittings because it was amazing.

Molly is a sweet person and I hated everyone who took advantage of her, or mistreated her. I absolutely despise Rodney and Cheryl.  I love Juan Manuel, Mr Preston and Charlotte Preston - they were absolute gems. Also, I felt Molly’s grief when she spoke of her Nan: Her Nan sounded like an amazing person.

I will admit it isn’t my favourite book, my favourite book is Pride and Prejudice but I gave it a 5 stars because I don’t understand why people are so stingy with their ratings lol. It was interesting to read, I was never bored and many of the characters are likeable :). 

I’m surprised by the number of people giving this book low ratings!! Most of them are saying  autism is not portrayed correctly in the main character, but in my opinion there is not explicitly a right or wrong way. Autism is a spectrum and are there are countless types of autism, I am sure there are people who have similar thoughts to Molly - but if not, it is just a character and the author never explicitly mentioned autism.

EDIT: Changed my review from 5 stars to 4 stars because it’s not one of my favourite books and I haven’t thought of it, or the characters since, but now that I remember, I did love a lot of the characters so I’ve changed my mind and give it 4.75 stars lol. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Deportation, Murder, and Ableism

Minor: Torture, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, and Violence

julleah's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Deportation, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Murder, Drug use, Torture, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Violence

hmetwade's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Ableism and Bullying

Minor: Murder, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Physical abuse, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Cancer, Deportation, Drug use, and Terminal illness

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Deportation, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Cancer, and Murder

vireogirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-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

4.5

Read it in one evening. Several chuckles. Nice to see a neurodiverse character. A bit cheesy at times but there were some twists I didn’t expect and a lovely message of embracing who you are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Torture, Abandonment, Addiction, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Physical abuse

Minor: Bullying, Gun violence, Infidelity, Alcohol, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail