Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

37 reviews

jujusand's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Addiction, and Abandonment

shinypurplepants's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book offers: a ghost story, a true crime fan protagonist, and the elusive femme fatale. 

Not for me, reasons in spoilers just in case.

I was very turned off by the hyperfixation on female sexuality as a threat especially since it was about the "beautiful waif blonde" who no one could ever believe was dangerous!! *bats eyes*

As a black femme, I am often treated as a threat despite my femininity so all the proto-feminist "but women can murder toooo" made me really upset and the focus over and over and over on White Beauty was annoying at best and distracting fluff that took away from any building tension at worst.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Panic attacks/disorders

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death of parent, Rape, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infertility

jupiter_01's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

It took me some time to get into the book, but I'm glad I stuck with it! I was always eager to read on, especially with each new tidbit.

I liked the characters and their complicated, interwoven feelings for one another. In my opinion, the romantic connections were given more development than in Sun Down Motel, which enhanced Book of Cold Cases. I was very surprised that Beth didn't nab

her detective!

The one thing that bothered me was how often the female murderer/s were described as 'sexy.' I love a foxy, morally-gray woman, but it doesn't need to be a constant reminder. Otherwise, a good, intriguing read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape, Child abuse, and Car accident

ravenpuff's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Death, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Kidnapping, Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Stalking, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Sexism, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, and Misogyny

honeywine's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book pulled me in quickly and I enjoyed my time reading it. The mystery felt solved about 3/4 of the way through, however, and the final quarter of the book was more of a long, drawn out afterword. 

There are ghosts, which I love, and the main character is likable and relatable. I’d recommend this book to people who like darker stories and paranormal sprinklings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Bullying, Stalking, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Confinement, Child death, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Pedophilia, Torture, and Car accident

cmaples's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

Was disappointed in this after reading the Sundown Motel. The plot was predictable and the atmosphere just wasn't there. Also, the characters are very same-y. You'll see lots of parallels between this and Sundown, but it's definitely the lesser of the two, and those parallels aren't always there in good ways. A lot of the characters are similar and their stories even end in similar ways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Car accident, Classism, and Terminal illness

Minor: Rape and Pregnancy

plays into the trope where the child of rape/child given up for adoption is evil

tlynn_07_14_21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book and cannot wit to read more by this author. This book was definitely dark and mysterious,  creepy and suspenseful. The mansion was so atmospheric. I truly got some Goosebumps at times. The first chapter of this book grabbed a hold of me like no other book of this genre ever has. I was not expecting that paranormal twist at all. 
Beth Greer gave me some serious Evelyn Hugo vibes, but darker.
Lily Knowles 100% Lisa vibes from Girl, Interrupted. 
Even the MC, Shea is lugging around some darkness. 
If you're into Thrillers, this should be on your tbr.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

tamara_joy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Actually scary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug use, and Blood

ambenicole418's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I really like this book! It’s a murder mystery with a touch of ghost story. We don’t get to see the bulk of the ghost stuff until the last half of the book (because who is haunting the house is important to the overarching murder mystery plot), but when you do get to the parts about the ghosts you can feel the intensity and spookiness of the whole situation. Overall, while I did take a few issues with the book I really enjoyed this story and would recommend to anyone looking for a murder mystery/thriller book.

Dislikes:

• I didn’t really like that they never explained the haunting of the house, specifically, they never explain why the house itself feels sentient in the fact that it seems to be taunting Beth at times with her alcoholism and images of her father or why Marianna is also haunting the house.
  The first and last time we see her ghost towards the beginning of the book she is opening doors in the house looking for someone and then banging on Beth’s door loudly for her to open it, but they never give an explanation for why she does this. We also don’t find out what happened to Marianna’s ghost at the end of the story. At the end of the book they explain that the house is still haunted and mention that there are now two ghosts in the window which we assume to be Lily and Beth, but they never say anything about Marianna’s ghost.
  Is she still there and if not what made her finally leave?
• And while the ending was satisfying enough I wasn’t a huge fan of the some of the choices.
  The way Shea paints Beth as a muderous villian and makes it her mission to put Beth away for Lily’s death you would think that Beth killed an innocent person in cold blood. The police were never gonna put Lily away for the murders she committed. There was no evidence and the only person alive that even knew she existed and what she was doing was Beth. Lily made it clear that she wasn’t going to stop killing people and she was probably gonna force Beth to kill too. I mean even in death she was still trying to kill people. I’m not saying Beth was a righteous hero or anything, but by killing Lily she stopped more innocent people from dying, and I don’t think she deserves to be condemned and jailed for that especially at Beth’s ripe age of 60+ years old.
   

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Murder, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Rape, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship