Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

6 reviews

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, War, Cancer, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Misogyny, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Vomit, Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Excrement, Pedophilia, and Racial slurs

mxpringle's review against another edition

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

2.75

One day maybe I will find a horror novel that doesn't include queer people and women without demonizing and/or victimizing them. I thought it was solidly enjoyable in terms of the writing, but I feel like a lot of the plot and topics explored are tropes that have been overdone, such as Southern small town murders, hitchhikers, etc., though these were intermingled with a few really cool new ideas. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, Murder, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Torture, Sexual harassment, Rape, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Alcohol, Body horror, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Moderate: Pregnancy and Abandonment

Minor: Vomit

reggiethebird's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I cannot imagine someone reading this book and thinking "You know what, I want people to experience all this on the big screen." This is one of the most grimy books I've ever read, like "I want to take a shower after reading it" type filthy. I'm not sure there is a good person in all 261 pages who isn't either raped, killed, raped then killed, or killed then raped. This is a book where a bunch of bad people do bad things to other bad people for a whole 3 or 4 intersecting plot arcs. If that's the type of story you like, go for it. If you have any triggers at all, probably skip this one. It's a very ugly tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Grief, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Blood, Violence, Rape, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Transphobia, Torture, Abandonment, Infidelity, Body shaming, Cursing, Bullying, Homophobia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Ableism

Minor: Cancer, Gaslighting, War, Dementia, Stalking, Car accident, Slavery, and Vomit

taylers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.5

A dark, post WW2 horror/thriller that gives you insight into the minds of seemingly normal people who, in secret, do depraved and horrific things. All the trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Ableism, Sexual assault, Grief, Torture, Sexual content, Pedophilia, and Police brutality

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Gore, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, and Excrement

sphealrical's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion and Transphobia

katherineclimber's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

Um so I think I like thrillers now?? This book was so amazing, I don't have words to express how much I loved it. It was creepy and all the characters were messed up and everyone had their own secrets, but I think that's what made it so interesting and compelling to read. Even though it was confusing at times, it was fun to follow so many different storylines at once because I knew they were eventually all going to converge, and trust me when they did I was literally silent screaming, um yea. This is definitely one of the best, or even the best book I've read all year. For me, one way I know a book is incredible is how it will make me physically react. For example, this book made me gasp many-o-times, it made my jaw  d r o p  every time something big happened (which was a lot), I almost cried, and I slammed the book down and stared at the ceiling more than once. This book is also super dark, and there a lot of people who are just insane, and you know, murder people. But let me tell you, when one of the worst people in the book got murdered, I was very happy, revenge is very sweet. Anyways, like I said, this book has a lot of different characters with weird families so I would 10/10 recommend making a character chart to keep track of it all. So now that I've figured out that I love books like this, I don't know how I am going to be able to find any that live up to this one. Oh, also I watched the movie after I finished reading the book, and it was almost just as good as the book, even though the ending was a little wack. So now that's also one of my favorite movies. Oh and lastly I did listen to this as an audiobook while I read along in the physical book, which was super awesome because all the southern accents in the audiobook really help you become enveloped in the story. So basically what I learned from this absolute masterpiece of a book is that I like books that are "dark and twisty" to quote my mom, and also, very oddly specific but, I like books with small-towns where everyone is messed up and people are getting killed( see "The Lost causes of Bleak Creek" and "Sharp Objects") </spoiler?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Abortion, Terminal illness, and Stalking