Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

177 reviews

mcnoble's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

3.0

The audiobook was enjoyable, with a full cast for each character. If you don’t like books with multiple POVs, then you won’t enjoy this one. Everything came together in the end but for a long time, this book just felt so messy. Everyone had so much drama that all I wanted was a normal interaction for a change. It was definitely tense but sometimes seemed like it was trying to hard to be trendy while also mysterious. Not 100% sure about how I feel about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicide, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Classism, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Death, Pregnancy, and Abortion

laurenbaggy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Pregnancy, Addiction, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

tibbettsn99's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

This was a suspenseful thriller, though I partially predicted the plot twist.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Violence, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit

tabea1409's review

adventurous mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Death, Alcoholism, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Alcohol, Child abuse, Self harm, Violence, and Vomit

charisw's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Very quick and easy read, I enjoyed it. At a point near the end I was starting to get a little bored and I was planning to give it 3 stars but then the last couple chapters turned it around and I settled on 3.5.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Child death, Self harm, Death, Alcohol, Bullying, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Grief, Death, Drug use, and Sexual harassment

cedaly22's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Abortion, and Child death

Moderate: Gaslighting and Bullying

soefeeah's review

challenging slow-paced

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

3.0

It was really hard to get through this book for me. It was almost a DNF. I had to get the sparknotes to get excited about it cause i had no idea what what happening, what the point of it all was, where it was going, all of the characters were shady and ominous as fuck and i didn't like any of them except Hannah, kind of. I found my self skimming and skipping so much of the scene setting. Idk. Maybe cause I went into it not knowing what to expect. Not for me. Though I see the Agatha Christie comparison. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Child death, Abortion, Alcohol, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

bethaniesherwood's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

I don’t like how neatly some of the plot threads are wrapped up. It’s almost too neat. It feels akin to “plot armor” but I genuinely don’t think that’s the case. To an extent, I think all the “coincidences” are fine at an event like a wedding — which would bring everyone you know together — but there’s two “coincidence”s that shouldn’t fit and feel forced. It takes you out of it. 

That said, the writing itself is very good. Gripping. Even though all these characters are terrible people, I was hooked. Foley has a way of crafting a narrative that’s hard to get out of your head. She seems to gravitate toward mysteries but if she ever wrote a psychological thriller, I’d buy several copies. 

Anyway, I “read” this as an audiobook. The narrators did a fantastic job, each character had its own voice — which paid homage to their roots and personality. 

I think the editor screwed Foley over a bit on this one. When I read through reviews and saw people citing repetition as an undesirable trait, I just assumed they meant the revolving narratives. That was premature. The narratives and timelines are orchestrated quite well. In my opinion, the word choice was redundant in a lot of ways. Again, excusable through their linked pasts and culture. The foreshadowing didn’t help either — too  heavy handed. 

Still a great read. Would recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Self harm, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, and Classism

Minor: Mental illness, Blood, Violence, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Grief

Parental neglect; sexual blackmail;

mel_bee_421's review

emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gaslighting, Murder, Self harm, and Alcohol

chemistreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This thriller/murder mystery definitely kept me guessing until the end - I had some inklings of what may have happened here and there but definitely didn’t put it all together. It was intriguing not knowing whodunit or the victim until the very end. Early on the book was slow with poor character development. I really wish there had been one more chapter to tie up the loose ends with the characters. The ending felt rushed. Also some of the “trigger warning content” was annoying and not necessary and thrown in for the shock factor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Murder, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, and Vomit