Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

33 reviews

boba_nbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Daisy Darker resembles Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None... but with a twist. 

The Darker family is... messed up. To say the least. Each family member has secrets they would rather not share but come to light at Nana's 80th birthday party. Everyone is stuck at Nana's house for 8 hours after the tide comes in, and, when Nana is found dead at midnight, everyone begins to panic trying to figure out who did it. As the family bickers over who killed Nana, more and more strange things start to happen as other family members start to disappear... and die. 

I thought the book was well-written, intriguing, and fast-paced. I enjoyed trying to figure out whodunit as I kept reading, and I was delightfully surprised by the multiple twists and turns in the story. One of my favorite parts of the book was the explanation of who, what, when, where, and why at the end. 

Overall, this was a great twist on a classic that I'd recommend to thriller and mystery readers alike.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

It definitely gave off And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (which was mentioned in the book) plus the narrator was great, her voice was quite relaxing.

I went into this knowing nothing about it and I kinda recommend that.  The plot is  much more interesting that way in my opinion.  However, it definitely felt dragged out and at times, it seemed like there were some unnecessary chapters but overall it was pretty entertaining.  

The plot twist near the end got me.  I wasn’t expecting that but I’m not sure how I felt about it at the same time.  Everything tied in together to the poem of the family.  Exposing the family secrets one by one leading them to the biggest secret of all and getting revenge for it after so many years.

And lastly, never cross Nana… or else you’ll end up like the rest of the Darker family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

hmstumfoll's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Suicide, and Medical trauma

rachaelbunny's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, and Medical trauma

reader_i_married_him's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

If you love plot twists that give you whiplash and will have you gasping, this is the book for you! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Murder

zalouis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Alcohol

sobbinghoursopen's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

sarahmae531's review against another edition

dark 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book was a rollercoaster ride. There were times I couldn’t put it down and other times I couldn’t get myself to pick it up. 
The last maybe third of the book flew by for me. I had a few predictions on what the twist would be and I didn’t fully figure it out, which is always nice. 
It loses a few points for me just because I’m not a big fan of what the final twist was in books

(i.e. a character being a ghost but somehow one special person can see them)

but I thought that for the “trope” (if you can really call it that), it was well executed, well explained, and kept me on the edge of my seat towards the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

savvylit's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

3.0

Daisy Darker is a tough book to rate, honestly. As a thriller, it's quite entertaining and does a good job of maintaining suspense. The conclusion and reveal genuinely surprised me! I had guessed the murderer but not the circumstances. If you enjoy fast-paced mysteries, you'll probably enjoy this! The mystery itself is a four-star idea & execution.

Though I did appreciate the suspense and homages to Agatha Christie, the actual quality of writing in Daisy Darker is not great. To the point where it frequently bothered me as a reader. I rolled my eyes at many narrative decisions. When describing Daisy's family or her past, every paragraph is absolutely LOADED with similes and metaphors. This is not a direct quote but will give you an idea of what I mean: "if families are a tapestry, ours was frayed beyond repair." The first several chapters include sentences like that multiple times within single paragraphs. It's incredibly heavy-handed. We get it! The Darker family is deeply dysfunctional.

Furthermore, the chapters tend to conclude with sentences that serve as ridiculously transparent attempts at cliffhangers: "and that was a night I'll never forget" or "my sisters' relationship was never the same again." Almost every chapter ended that way and it was so unnecessary. The cliffhanger-esque details become obvious later anyway! Again with heavy-handed narration. Just tell the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming and Sexual assault