Reviews tagging 'Grief'

If You Tell by Gregg Olsen

37 reviews

priscillarobock's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Bullying, and Toxic relationship

tishas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

3.5

This book was a hard read. Based on a true story, it was a sad, infuriating and difficult 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Child abuse

maddness22's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

0.25

I do not respect this book in the slightest. It's an attempt to capitalize on one family's horrible tragedy during the height of the true crime fascination. This is poorly written without any substance to the cruelty it outlines. There's no additional psychological insight into the mother's sadistic nature, no actual mention of the "bonds of sisterhood" until the final 10% of the book and even then it's a rather weak grab, and the timeline of events is written in the worst and most confusing manner. This was literally just composed for shock value and really only lists the acts of crimes committed by the narcissistic and sadistic mother and her pathetic husband. 

If it was meant as a warning for Shelly's release or even as a toolkit for others to recognize how severe abuse can be so subtle in its nature to integrate so fully in a victim's life, the message could've been conveyed with about 200 less pages and repetitive drawn out torture scenes. However, these lessons are barely conveyed successfully anyways. The writing is vague, confusing, and the author truly uses the word "niggled" un-ironically at one point. Like? Seriously? That's not even a real word and it sounds childish at best. 

Skip this shock value torture nonsense. Just know their mother was vile and we need to believe in victims. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

csimonsensays's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Grief, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence

lottie1803's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Torture, Grief, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Terminal illness

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

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

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

laciejanelle94's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Bullying, Child death, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, and Torture