Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

203 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

1.75

Context: I wish I could remember the review that made me want to read this, I thought it was going to be more mystery and less thriller. 

 

TLDR:  I got hung-up on the foster care stuff, your mileage may vary. 

 

The plotting was pretty tight for the most part with a few plot holes that didn’t matter very much. The central mystery was interesting and fresh. Most plot twists were a surprise. 

 

My main problem came with the characterisation. The foster care system does heavy lifting in explaining Jess and Ben. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if there weren’t some important plot points that for someone somewhat familiar with the system are just plain unbelievable. I don’t know how much experience Ms Foley has had with the system but she might have benefited from an experienced beta reader.It’s rather like a non-Roma writer with a main character who is Roma and not having some Roma readers to advise them on Roma life. Just saying, “oh, they were in foster care so they are like this” is lazy. 

 

The ending felt like Ms Foley found her deadline approaching and her editor wanted a happy ending for all rewrite. Anyone surviving foster care could tell you that there never is a happy ending for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Child abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Bullying, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, and Suicide

the foster care system

aharper's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Trafficking

Minor: Deportation

gracedunne's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Police brutality, Alcoholism, and Blood

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This was such a good crime/thriller, I did not see any of the plot twists, it was done so well 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Stalking

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

anapthrs's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide and Death of parent

capriqueen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

A solid mystery. Did really well with the tense atmosphere, there were some moments that had my pulse seriously elevated

The MC felt a bit useless for about 80% of the book, as we learned most of the information from the other characters’ POV’s, but she was still a good MC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Classism, and Stalking

Moderate: Body shaming, Misogyny, and Mental illness

Minor: Homophobia and Death of parent

marissanbullis's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Child death, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, and Infidelity

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

1.25

...Yet another thriller that I did not enjoy.  It was filled with characters that had one main facet which was being awful.  Would not recommend.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Police brutality, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Violence, Vomit, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexism, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infertility, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, and Suicide

chelle22's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Violence, Abandonment, Deportation, Sexual content, Suicide, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Stalking

kccool12255's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Stalking, Infidelity, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Violence, Addiction, Death, Murder, Alcohol, Death of parent, Blood, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, and Vomit

Minor: Infertility, Biphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Cancer, and Car accident