Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

31 reviews

randilion28's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

Just like Sagers other books I've read - this was nothing short of amazing! The entire book keeps you guessing up until the very last 3 pages and then BAM! You're hit with a truth you never saw coming. You think you know what's happened, how it happened, etc... but trust me when I saw, as someone who reads A LOT of mystery/thriller books... I didn't see this ending... And I am HERE FOR IT! I love when I'm unable to guess the plot line, it makes it all the more enjoyable.

The author also describes the environment so vividly that you feel like you are there at Camp Nightingale with the girls. It has that creepy, deep woods vibe that I love reading about. I would 10/10 recommend this read! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Gaslighting, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Alcohol, Body shaming, Death, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

cepramas's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Violence and Cancer

rebeccarc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

Read it with someone else, but they never even started it, and I wanted and never read more. I'm gonna try this again alone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, and Cancer

Minor: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Stalking

aprilblues348's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Death, Alcohol, Cancer, Child death, and Toxic friendship

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

astoriareader's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

SYNOPSIS:

• Fifteen years ago, Emma Davis went to summer camp, and her three cabin mates snuck out in the middle of the night & they vanished without a trace.
• In the present day, Emma is an artist & living in NYC. The owner of the summer camp is reopening the camp, and she asks if Emma wants to return as an art instructor. Emma decides to go for it, as a way to get closure.
• At camp, Emma is paired in a cabin with three teenagers, and history begins to repeat itself. 

MY THOUGHTS

• Atmospheric thriller. I enjoyed the summer camp setting.
• Interesting premise.

SPOILERS

• Ugh, okay, spoilers ahead as to why I went 3 stars on this one.
• I don’t really feel like Riley Sager, aka Todd Ritter, should be writing so many characters from women’s POV, particularly about a teenage girl getting her first period.
• If y’all play two truths & a lie one more time, I am going to lose it.
• Every character is accused at some point.
• What was even the point of the whole asylum backstory?! 
• The first clue that she finds is in a trunk?! What? Has it been there 15 years? Why does she need the map anyway?
• Emma’s “secrets" were not very interesting. She was 13, and they were totally understandable, given her age, maturity, and the situation.
• Okay, so where did Vivian go? She was a teenager. Where had she been living? How did she have money? A statewide manhunt was underway for the girls. Make it make sense.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ehhh, not my favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Violence, Murder, and Sexual content

Minor: Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Cancer

hunkydory'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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cancer

velsbooknook's review

dark mysterious tense

3.0

The story follows Emma, who is back at camp Nightingale, after three of her friends vanished fifteen years ago. There is still a lot of her past to uncover.
 This book had a very odd start and I almost dnf it. The first 70 pages are about Emma and her life as an artist. I was very bored and I was just waiting for the actual story to start. 
Once arrived at camp I really enjoyed the atmosphere and setting. I sadly found the characters rather dull and overall the story did not grip me as much as other thrillers did. 
It is definitely a good choice for a camping trip and an eerie and atmospheric read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Cancer, and Death

aas's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Drug use, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Cursing, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Confinement, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcoholism, Car accident, Kidnapping, Gore, Toxic friendship, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

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