Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

25 reviews

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

gneumann's review

emotional mysterious sad slow-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

3.5

i wish the twist wasn’t revealed in the second person. i didn’t like the second person chapters. it took away from the impact.

 

this was fun! i’ve enjoyed sager’s other books more, though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Murder, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Moderate: Violence, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Forced institutionalization

marpaige's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Grief, and Child death

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

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

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

amweber's review

dark mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Mental illness, Child death, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Alcohol and Body shaming

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

bookishgoob's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

Sager’s work is so confusing to me. he can write incredible stories and he can write terrible stories with good ideas. this happened to be an incredible story. i could be biased because i LOVE summer camp horror stuff but i was intrigued the entire time. The plot twist was so interesting. I still have a slight problem with the way he write women sometimes but i did enjoy this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Torture, and Violence

samisreadinq's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

I really love Riley sager!! Their books are always so incredible. This one is definitely my least favourite of his books but I still had a great time. The ending was was convinced me to give an extra star. The ending is really awesome and so engaging. I like having an unreliable narrator and not knowing if you can believe them.

I also liked seeing the past situation with viv, Allison and Natalie. And the dual perspective. Though it was written really well and added a lot to the book. I felt a bit bad for Theo he didn’t deserve that but also can understand Emma’s perspective too. Especially as she was only a child when it happened.

The writing as always is great and the plot well written. Riley has an incredible way of storytelling and engaging you the entire time. However, this time especially towards the start I didn’t feel that rush. That edge of my seat adrenaline that I always normally feel with his books. Definitely felt it at the end but I felt the start was a little slow for me. In comparison to his others books. 

Overall, this one is definitely a great time. But not my favourite of his books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis