Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

17 reviews

author_d_r_oestreicher's review

mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

 

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager. Thirteen-year-old Emma Davis goes to Camp Nightingale and gets assigned to Dogwood Cabin with three 16-year-old girls. They vanish. The girls are not found, and the camp is shut down. Emma feels guilty, PTSD-guilty, rehab-guilty. When the camp reopens 15 years later, she ends up in Dogwood again with three different teenage girls. These girls also disappear, and she is the prime suspect. There are so many suspects that until the end, you can never be sure. A well-written and fast-moving mystery. 
 

For my extended notes: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-last-time-i-lied-by-riley-sager.html 

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Check out https://amzn.to/3vfHVqc to see my books. 

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Alcohol, Child death, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

ash_ton's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this is my second read from riley sager and i gotta say, he stays winning

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cancer, Eating disorder, Medical content, Confinement, Death, Toxic friendship, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Alcohol, Car accident, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Blood, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Drug use

blackcatkai's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

CW: Mental Illness, gaslighting, ableism, alcoholism, disordered eating, body shaming/fatphobia, murder, death, bullying, violence, blood, toxic friendship, suicide attempt, grief, cancer/terminal illness, some sexual content

I'm not necessarily entirely happy with the mental illness rep, but overall, I really enjoyed this. that ending, I swear. I love Riley Sager's writing and I'm so glad I finally got to this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Death, Murder, and Suicide attempt

minimicropup's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

Had a great time listening to this as an audio book - was taken in and lost in the world of the camp. The narration and writing style were both excellent. Well done twists and turns that didn’t feel contrived or added just to surprise or confuse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Mental illness

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Body shaming, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Terminal illness, and Cancer

hellokatya's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

3.75

i’m really unsure how i feel about this book.
i really, really, enjoyed the ending. i think it really solidified this book, but i do have a few issues:
1. it was a bit hard to pick up again once i had put it down. during the read it was interesting enough to keep going, but it was hard to get the motivation again once i had stopped.
2. the story didn’t really pick up until the 30% mark and the main plot themes weren’t fully developed until around the 40% mark — all the backstory from the blurb had already been put out so why did it take so long for any development to begin?
3. why is a 28 year old regressing to her teenaged cattiness?
4.

i dont like how much time was spent on the asylum being an integral part of the story, just for it to fall flat and be a minuscule (in the grand scheme) detail. where did the women go? why would they have just thrown the scissors into the lake (or left them in the asylum) if lottie’s family cared so deeply about the history of it? why was helmut never reunited with his sister?

5. in ch. 36: “maybe the only way to free myself from the grip of guilt is to learn the truth.” — why was this framed as some epiphany? this had been the goal from the very beginning of the book.
6. the girls, natalie and allison + sasha and krystal, are only given a few defining character traits and never really explored or developed beyond that - though their very existence is integral to the overall plot. (with natalie and allison i suppose it serves a greater purpose [?] )

overall: i think this book makes for a good binge read if you’re willing to stick it out for a pretty damn satisfying ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Medical trauma, Cancer, Grief, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Stalking

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

blouviere4's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Bullying, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Alcohol, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Grief, and Toxic friendship

trulydevious's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Kidnapping, Eating disorder, and Pedophilia

librariangeorgia's review

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

4.0

I'm a big fan of Sager's books anyway so I knew that i'd love this one.

It does start off a bit slow, but once it gets going it goes full speed ahead. 

Following 2 similar situations that happened 15 years apart, it seems so obvious who the culprit is. However, I had my doubts about the fact that everyone assumed it would be Emma. Saying that, I didn't guess the actual whodunnit - the first reveal was a complete surprise for me but the second one, I feel now that it was more obvious after finishing the book than when I was reading it.

But that ending! That was one hell of a way to end it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I thought I would. I was completely absorbed in this book, I literally did not lift my head whilst reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Cancer, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Mental illness, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Murder, and Toxic friendship

ging090803's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

4.75

For the moment, I really like Riley Sager. Again, it think this book was really good. The end was so good. 
I liked how we didn't really know if what she was seeing was real or not. Poor Emma. I really liked how the past and present were mixed. 
Sager, again, gave us many suspects to put our mind on, I never knew what really happened. My suspicion went on and off continuously.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Stalking, Alcohol, Body shaming, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Bullying and Kidnapping

wrestleacademic'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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Murder, Cancer, Mental illness, and Confinement