Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Family Game by Catherine Steadman

16 reviews

samanthamoore's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

shedobechaotic'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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Gun violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Classism, Abortion, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Car accident and Drug abuse

savreads28's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Gore, Gun violence, Cursing, Death, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Blood, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Abortion, Car accident, Death of parent, Addiction, Medical content, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide, and Violence

jackierobinson's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

Bit of a slog tbh, but the ending had me on the edge of my seat! The whole plot however was quite far flung. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Car accident, Cursing, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Blood and Suicide

Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Stalking, Drug use, Vomit, and Drug abuse

caitgiam's review

dark mysterious tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Suicide

Moderate: Blood and Violence

Minor: Abortion and Drug abuse

chelle22's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Deadnaming, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Abortion

pookiee's review against another edition

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

3.75

a nice and gripping read. the rich family is written very mysterious and intriguing, reminiscent of the families in Succession and Get Out. the writing style is casual in a way that has you streaming through the pages.

the plot doesn’t take off till past 40% bc the MC has every excuse to not listen to the tape yet! I’d say this is not a mystery with mindblowing “oh, shit!” twists—MC conveniently ignores a lot of suspicious wordings that a reader does not, and the foreshadowing is a bit heavy-handed—but while you may guess the big surprises correctly, the details are more elusive, plus there are some well placed red herrings (my favorite being the “oh no he’s hot” sort-of-subplot lol).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide

Minor: Drug abuse

a character is groped and very uncomfortable about it, but no one else acknowledges it

javafenn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Catherine Steadman is an author that is have unwittingly gravitated towards. I love her slow burn suspense and her narration is spectacular! The fact that she narrates her own books is kind of what draws me to her. I also really love that her stories involve a lot of mystery without being TOO mysterious and the main character doesn’t seem unreliable. In this story, Harriet (Harry) Reed is getting married into one of America’s most wealthy families. Her future husband, Edward, seems to have steered clear of them for several years because, he claims, they are overbearing and he implies they are scary. She joins Edward to visit his family for Thanksgiving where she meets the patriarch, a handsome, powerful man who immediately seems to read Harriet from the moment he sees her. That first dinner together proves to be the spark that ignites the fire of this off putting family and Harriet. As she finds out, everyone has secrets and those secrets can be used against you. I loved not knowing who was good and who was bad and I also loved how it ended, I just wish *blank* wasn’t the bad one. Also, the hard use of the word “cunt” towards the end was so fantastically wonderful and appropriate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicide, Vomit, Alcohol, and Abortion

Minor: Cursing, Abortion, and Drug abuse

arelkins12's review

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Car accident, and Suicide

Minor: Vomit and Drug abuse

bekah1210's review against another edition

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gun violence, Suicide, Drug abuse, and Addiction