Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

35 reviews

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

This book was amazing! I absolutely loved how strange and atmospheric it was! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Kidnapping and Blood

Minor: Abandonment

drowning is mentioned when the main character is finding out more about Beth’s mother, it is revealed Mariana’s sister died in a drowning accident. Beth also kills Lily by drowning her in the bathtub after striking her on the head with an ashtray, and Lily’s ghost pulls Shea over the edge of the cliff and into the ocean where she nearly drowns.

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.0

A haunted mansion, a true crime researcher dealing with her own demons, a possible murderer acquitted for 40 years...you know, just regular stuff.

I have so many conflicting feelings on this one so let's go:

Positives! I liked the dual timelines, but I definitely liked the 1970's timeline better. I think that Simone St. James' strength is definitely in period pieces, and while I know that the present day perspective is necessary for the book to work, I just liked the past timeline better. I thought that the spooky scenes were extra spooky and often made me scared to turn my light out, and that addition to the plot made things way more interesting and tragic to me. There was one character who I thought was absolutely terrifying and interesting and I enjoyed every scene with her, but I'm not going to say more than that because spoilers. I thought some parts were predictable, but not in a way that angered me, more in a way where I was glad to have my suspicions confirmed.

That's kind of where my positives end? I feel torn, because there were parts of this I really enjoyed, but then there were so many parts that I thought could've been done better if someone else had written it. Before page 140, I was considering a DNF, but I wanted to give it a chance to redeem itself, and it did, but not as much as I would have liked it to.

Also....why does every book this woman publishes have a romance with a cop??

Overall, I think people who liked The Haunting of Hill House or Haunting of Bly Manor will like this one, but it wasn't my favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Stalking, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Misogyny, Abandonment, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

_savannahreads_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Alcoholism, Blood, Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

sorry_imbooked's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Abandonment, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Rape

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

Stayed up late to finish this one! It was really good. After DNF-ing The Sundown Motel I wasn't expecting much, but I really enjoyed it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Alcoholism, Murder, Alcohol, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Child death

Minor: Terminal illness, Abandonment, Car accident, and Sexual assault

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Murder, Blood, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Police brutality, Car accident, Confinement, Drug use, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Rape, Pedophilia, and Medical content

zwe's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.25

A good gloomy day read. Definitely had some weird moments but overall I liked the twists and was satisfied at the end. I really liked Shea as a narrator 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Vomit and Rape

taelights'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

2.5

I am honestly so disappointed in this book. I had such high hopes after how much I loved The Sun Down Motel. That story was a 4 star for me while this one fell so flat. 

The first half of the book started out so strong. The mystery of the lady killer case mixed in with the creepy paranormal elements had so much potential. But the mystery was solved at literally 50% which was way too easy. After I reached 63% I was like please just end the book because it was so boring after that point. 

Honestly the book should have either been much shorter. Most of the second half was just boring and felt repetitive as if the author was trying to reach some type of word count/story length goal rather than actually tell the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Murder

katrinasherise's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Terminal illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Abandonment, Blood, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Rape

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

kris386's review against another edition

medium-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, Mental illness, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying and Suicide