Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

11 reviews

leigh987's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, Bullying, Violence, Misogyny, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Chronic illness, Sexual harassment, Ableism, and Drug use

nattejones's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Murder, Rape, Drug use, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Violence, Medical content, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

ngrant88's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Bullying, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Murder, Racial slurs, Body shaming, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Emotional abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Body shaming, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Drug use, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, Blood, Bullying, Eating disorder, Grief, Pedophilia, and Self harm

camilla_perotti's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

In my opinion, the worst book of the series. It could have been at least 200 pages shorter, dealing more with the investigation than with the detectives’ personal lives:

did we really need another one of Strike’s girlfriends? Only for him to grow, once again, annoyed by her to the point of ghosting her? And the whole Charlotte Campbell once again getting in the way of everyone else’s lives? (I hope we’ve seen the last of her!)

The result was that by the time the investigation was starting to wrap up, much of the details from the first half of the book were lost to my memory and it wasn’t very easy to follow the detectives’ reasonings. 
The case in itself was very interesting, and I was pretty excited about the murderer’s reveal. I can also see how the author drew much from her personal experience with Twitter. However, in this review I won’t get into the JKK Rowling-transphobic debacle, as I don’t think this is the place for it. 
Finally, was the editor drinking at work?! It has been a long time since I read a novel edited this badly! I mean, from such a celebrated author and for such a best-selling series, you’d expect the best editor on the market to be on the job. Instead, there were so many inconsistencies,

from the game’s chat room continuously changing formatting (a conversation opened/has opened, a member entered/has entered) to Rachel repeatedly talking of Edie as her aunt, while she was, instead, her cousin. <\spoiler>
In short, if this novel, with a similar plot, had been shorter and better edited, it would have gotten from me 5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Murder, Hate crime, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Pedophilia

just_me_abbey's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Racism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Classism, and Death

njlbo1's review

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Ableism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Child abuse, Murder, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Violence

sauvageloup's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

firstly Rowling has shit political views. we all know this. I do feel bad reading this but I got it from the library and shes getting no profit from me. unfortunately shes a good writer.

pros:
- very gripping, couldn't put down
- characters were interesting and complex overall 
- did a convincing job of showing online spaces

cons:
- the sheer pettiness underlying lots of her comments is a lot. the whole plotline is narcissistic. I get the point shes trying to make (toxic online spaces driving innocent creators to misery. bad ppl hiding building up gullible fans with claims of creator's being homophobic/racist/ableist, etc. ppl being blinded by this that they miss true predators, sexists and racists) but it misses all the joy of online friends, and generally reads like shes bitter about the criticism.
- she also misses the very real need for criticism. she mocks "SJWs" but her own views could be called that by some alt right. she's determined to see that fans are acting as a mob with no critical thinking skills, where I think shes blinded by confirmation bias and her ego and lacks the ability to be compassionate and tolerant. anyway. her views are made very clear in the book and it feels petty.
- underwhelming ending, not helped by me thinking for some reason that this one the last one. was disappointed.
- its dragged too long now. think this should've been last one for sure.

overall, disappointing and frustrating, because it was good up until a sour end, much like her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Racism, Pedophilia, Murder, Grief, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Ableism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Blood, Antisemitism, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Violence, Stalking, Sexism, Mental illness, Medical content, Homophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Bullying, and Body shaming

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense 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

4.25

I love the Cormoran Strike series. Rowling (aka, Galbraith) is an accomplished storyteller who can handle multiple characters and a complex storyline. Here she shows a facility with online gaming that, to me as a non-gamer, is mind-boggling. While I really respect her talent, I found the story so complex that I need to go back and reread this to see what I missed. Definitely recommend the entire series starting with The Cuckoo’s Calling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Medical trauma, Racism, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Homophobia, Murder, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Blood, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Antisemitism, Cursing, Gore, Hate crime, and Mental illness

jodiesackettbrown's review

dark informative mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Rape, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, and Mental illness

This is a spectacular book despite all the constant warnings I’ve given.

tmn126's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Chronic illness, Body shaming, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual harassment, Murder, Drug use, Cursing, and Bullying