Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Hypnotisoija by Lars Kepler

10 reviews

alineh's review against another edition

dark tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

cnapple's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

A quick read. Prose is fairly bland and overly expository, but that may be an artefact of translation. Characters are not particularly well-developed or likeable, but their past and interrelationships are central to the plot. The plot itself, despite the many twists and turns necessary to the genre is relatively shallow, with no deeper meaning or theme beyond the words on the page. There's also a strange and somewhat off-putting bait and switch wherin halfway through the book, the primary plot becomes all but irrelevant, and the b- plot takes center stage. 

All negatives aside, however, I found myself literally unable to put the book down until I figured out what was going on. So if you're looking for a book to take over your afternoon without taking up too many processing cycles, this may be the read you're looking for.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Gore, Murder, Mental illness, Violence, and Drug abuse

ash122's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, Self harm, Blood, Torture, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Bullying

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, and Incest

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

eelin's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Violence, Death, Incest, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Mental illness, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Forced institutionalization

pastagiulia06's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual content, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Infidelity, Death, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Infertility, Abortion, and Alcohol

knik's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

Flat characters and a red herring that isn’t wrapped up tainted everything I liked about the book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Mental illness, Murder, Child death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Child abuse

Minor: Stalking, Suicide, and Self harm

ran_sophia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A very well written book which will keep you on your toes from beginning to end. In general, the book was very readable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Stalking, and Addiction

filipa_maia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

 Wow! What a book! I was, definitely, not expecting this when I started reading 'The Hypnotist'.

I thought that getting through this book was going to be hard... 560 pages long is not an easy task. But the story is so interesting and so well written that all I did was thinking about this book when I was not reading it. When we start learning about Erik's life, 10 years ago, and the hypnosis sessions, we kinda forget about the initial story (Josef Ek and all the killings). The plot is really creative and full of twists and turns and the readers get lost into it (in a very good way).

I just kept the entire book being annoyed by the lack of communication between Erik and Simone: she is annoying by always being suspicious of him (if you forgave him just get over it); he is annoying by not defending himself (by saying the he is having an affair when he isn't, and by agreeing that he is taking pills when is not). God dammit!

Can't wait to read more books by this amazing team of authors. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Abandonment, Torture, Stalking, Miscarriage, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Infertility

kalmed22's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

1st in this series; very interesting premise and start to the book.  Bogged down in the middle a bit and the diverging storylines were a bit much, otherwise solid start and ending.  Will continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mental illness, and Kidnapping

sarahasyouwish's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

I liked the dark, grittiness of this Swedish detective thriller, but ultimately, it felt a bit bloated to me. There were more red herrings and side characters than was necessary for my tastes. I think if the story could have followed the main plot a little more tightly, this would have worked better for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Mental illness

Moderate: Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Death