Reviews tagging 'Torture'

If You Tell by Gregg Olsen

190 reviews

artzea's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

A dark, true story that is as disturbing as it is horrible. Not my usual read, but I couldn’t put the book down once I started it.

The story was told in an easy and comprehensive way, with only a few issues: A jumpy timeline and certain slow/non-important parts.

A good read, but beware the tragic events this book contains.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Grief, Physical abuse, Torture, Death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Violence, Abandonment, and Blood

bhahnert's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Child abuse, Body horror, Stalking, Cursing, Child death, Homophobia, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

texasbreeze23's review against another edition

dark informative tense fast-paced

4.0

This book was absolutely shocking. The atrocities Shelly Knotek committed against her daughters and three other people were truly terrifying. This particular book was much better than a different one I read by this author--I could actually follow this timeline as opposed to a different book. This story will stick with me for some time as I ponder how someone can be so evil. It's time to read something light so my mind doesn't go down a black hole.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, and Child abuse

It's hard to wrap my head around how someone can be so evil.

spookysierra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Death of parent, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Blood, Vomit, Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Torture, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Gaslighting, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Addiction, and Violence

kcp3321's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.0

This book was a lot to digest.  This is the harrowing true story of a family with an abusive and murderous mother.  The daughters survive, despite a childhood full of trauma, terror, and torture.  There were many parts of the book that were disturbing to read so I can only imagine how the girls felt living those experiences.  I think the most difficult part of this book to read was the hair trigger switch that had the mother swinging from pretending to be happy to being absolutely vile.  
I thought it was well written and I commend the daughters for their strength to escape.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Torture, Child abuse, and Death

jessrica77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This was a good story, but I did not care for how it was written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Murder, Torture, and Violence

lennyy's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Torture

mstaton2186's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Heartbreaking story

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Torture, and Murder

fink1129's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Vomit, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Slavery, Mental illness, Murder, and Bullying

yojimbo96's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

2.5

Those girls went through so much but the book should focus less on the traumatic events the girls suffered. At times it takes the descriptions past what is just retelling events and to a kind of macabre fascination with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, and Torture