Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay

17 reviews

rachhromann's review

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was just such a great, suspenseful, read. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I did not want to put it down! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Murder, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Suicide

pernillelsk's review

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, and Police brutality

Minor: Death of parent

dodgeremerson's review

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

Not the worst book, but it was very predictable. I called the killer from their introduction, as well as the other deaths that we discover early on. Kind of disappointing.

Also...

I am really frustrated that the promising young brown kid was killed off. He is the only death outside of the murders, and the only death "on the page." Why is the only POC mentioned the only death? Granted, it was clear he was going to die from the moment Finlay introducedhis mother with that "take care of my boy" line. But it is still irritating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Blood, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, and Child abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Grief, and Violence

Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Abortion, Bullying, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death of parent, Addiction, and Police brutality

eevee_saur137's review

mysterious 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? No

2.75

This isn't a bad mystery, but it's a little overwritten in the sections where we see what characters are thinking. It is not subtle in the writing, and it can be hamfisted with its jokes and references. Clues can be buried, come out of left field, or just happen off-page (offscreen?) and after the reveals start flooding in, I wished the story would slow down. I wanted to know more about how the characters processed everything.

I don't mind the ending but I don't believe in the final couple, they had no chemistry or even opportunity to connect. And the fact that the only POC character ended up dead just disappoints me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Alcohol

It is a spoiler but

The reveal of the killer is also the revelation of multiple abusive, adult/minor relationships. Different minors, same adult.

vj_thompson's review

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow, wow, wow. The ENDING!!!

The Night Shift is probably up there in being one of my favorite thrills. I didn’t see the ending coming at all. I did get one of the plot twists. I liked that two of the three characters had flaws that they were processing through while the whole story was playing out.

The ending was the Epilogue was the sweetest thing 💕 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Pregnancy, Stalking, Cursing, Gore, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Abortion, Bullying, Classism, and Eating disorder

kaitlyns22's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, and Stalking

katemreads's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

An entertaining quick read that I feel neutral on. I can see why a lot of people like this. And overall I did enjoy this quick read but it felt like a weak thriller to me; more of a smaller thriller within a larger small town drama. 

The book follows three perspectives and only one feels like it’s diving into the murders while the other two on are a separate journey that intersects with the cases. Those two felt more like a personal journey to resolve past issues from the first set of murders. I get why, but it felt more like the second set of murders opened old wounds and that was the main part of their journey rather than the thriller piece of being invested into the connection between the first set of murders and the second; if any at all. 

There was also a character who was important to the story but kind of dropped out around the halfway point, only to return at the end. I felt their storyline was used as a plot device for these two perspectives mentioned above. While I can understand because this story isn’t about this person, the whole thing never would have occurred without them. I felt it was a bit of a disservice to use them to move the plot along for other characters and not explore deeper into their story. Some other aspects of the story also felt there for just the plot. Of course there are red herrings in thrillers, but I just wasn’t convinced on most of them. This led me to feeling I spent so many pages reading about something that ended up nowhere. Since I didn’t buy in in the first place, it felt like a cheap payout/investment. Speaking of, I guessed the “who done it” very early on. It felt a bit obvious to me which may have contributed to my skepticism with the red herrings; and lack of enjoyment of them. 

On the positive side, I loved the FBI agent’s perspective! Her character and personality were so vivid and easy to picture. I enjoyed her storyline and the investigation. I have to say that the author seemed to clearly put a lot of work into learning about FBI protocols and investigating as well as the legal system; at least from what I can tell. Both of those aspects felt 100% authentic to me. 

As much as it may sound like I didn’t like this book, it was a fun enjoyable read! Right after I read it I’d have given it 4 stars. Just the more I think about it the more I’m a bit unsatisfied with choices the author made; at least for my reading preference. Overall I’d recommend giving it a try!  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Death of parent

nrogers_1030's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

The identity of the killer is pretty predictable. That being noted, it still had enough twists to be a good read. Atticus’s passing was so heartbreaking

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Pregnancy, Grief, and Infidelity

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Suicide, Self harm, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, and Rape

leebeeloves's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Pregnancy

booksofautumn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence