Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - What Happened to Nina?

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan

8 reviews

coronationcorgi's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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dark reflective 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

4.0

What Happened to Nina? is somewhat of a misnomer because the reader finds out right at the start of the novel what happened to her. The novel really pivots around two main threads. The first is that of her family and their desperate search to find her and then to seek justice. The second relates to Simon, her boyfriend, and his family. As the last person to see her alive, he is clearly a person of interest, and his wealthy influential parents are very invested in protecting his reputation and theirs. The way they use their privilege to slow the investigation and to spread misinformation online was totally rage inducing. I enjoyed seeing this story unfold through a variety of perspectives. It certainly made me think about what I'd do if I were either set of parents. While I may understand their motives, I'd like to hope my actions wouldn't mirror theirs. I also enjoyed what McTiernan has to say about privilege, social media, and justice. It's not new nor revolutionary, but it's an important message that can't be repeated too often.

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rainbowbookworm's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

5.0

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goodin10tions's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.0

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henrygravesprince's review

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dark emotional 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

4.0

In the interest of full disclosure, this review is specifically regarding a DRC copy of the book from Net Galley, so while I imagine this eBook was pretty close to finalized, some details may have been changed between my copy and the official release.

I think I would recommend this both to people who regularly read mystery-thrillers and people interested in reading more of them. I think the strongest element of this book is the depth of the characters and the unique storytelling balanced with a story that is, unfortunately, as old as the concept of true crime itself. The weakest is the opening, which didn’t line up with the quality of the rest of the book. I wish that the first 25% of the book were more cleanly edited and succinct in the way the end of the book is—this is one of the few times where the end has seemed more polished than the beginning of a book, at least to me. I think I would recommend this both to people who regularly read mystery-thrillers and people interested in reading more of them.

The narrative was very well-layered and put together with a lot of intention; you can tell the author knew the details of the story they were telling and wasn’t just making things up on the fly. Conflict was well-established and built up effectively, and pacing was consistently quick, but not really overrushed. I was surprised at certain story beats happening so quickly in the narrative

, but the question of who did it and how isn’t the real driving force here: the actual question at the core of the narrative is which family will come out on top in the battle for their children

. Characterization was incredibly potent and consistent, with each character feeling very distinct and easy to differentiate from. A lot of the cast wasn’t necessarily likeable, but they were memorable and compelling enough to make up for that. There wasn’t a whole lot of visual or sensory description, which made instances where it was utilized all the more impactful, especially in the scenes where Nina

, and eventually Nina’s corpse,

gets described.

The writing style was consistent, narratively appropriate, and very strong. For the most part, I don’t think over-/under-writing are an issue in this book, save for in the prologue, which may be rectified in the final copy; for example, the lobster-pot metaphor speaks for itself; the further explanation of what it means was unnecessary. Syntax was coherent, building relatively straightforward, linear sentences. While spelling and grammar were for the most part adequate, there were some things that brought me out of it, like putting a space in chainsaw (“chain saw”). Phrasing was clear and consistent, if not occasionally a little repetitive—lots of sentences starting with “Also,”—but, ultimately, it evens out by the end of the book. Dialogue was occasionally kind of sloppy, but not too detrimental overall.

Shifts in point of view are made clear chapter to chapter, and very well-done. I was genuinely impressed at how well the author was able to juggle so many different character points of view, especially while maintaining a solid sense of voice for each character. The fact that the two characters we don’t really get perspective from are Nina and Simon (save for the prologue, which, frankly, I think people could skip or save until the end to get a better reading experience) was interesting and a cool way to play with a different perspective on this kind of story. I thought the use of first person for the family members, but third person for the police officer’s chapters, was very clever; as a result, the point of view and depth of perspective all felt very natural and appropriate.

One thing that did give me pause was the very random insertion

of a man harrassing the Frasers having Borderline Personality Disorder;

it felt irrelevant and stigmatizing, especially since the character had little screentime or influence on the plot. The specification of diagnosis was unnecessary. Similarly, I could’ve done without the use of “slow” as a pejorative, which I’ve discussed the ableist origins of in other reviews before and won’t rehash here, which occurred a couple of times, but otherwise the language used wasn’t inappropriate or offensive.

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daniallreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

So what did happen to Nina?

Thank you, Partners William Marrow and BiblioLifestyle for the gifted copy of this book.

It's the biggest question circulating the book world right now. Let me tell you, you're not ready to know the secrets & bloodshed that surrounds Nina.

I am not one who listens to true crime podcasts and is a junkie for murder but this story caught my attention. It's a murder mystery with all the thrills of who-dun-it + uncovering clues to solve the case but Dervla McTiernan takes us so much deeper into the mind of the characters surround Nina's case.

"What Happened to Nina?" is a really creative thriller. We get everyone's perspective except for the murderer and the murdered. I think this aspect pulled me deeper into the story. Not knowing the thoughts of anyone but the family members, friends and detectives was so enlightening. I was HOOKED living in the minds of these people. It was so fascinating to see how the events of the murder drove them to do things.

I think Dervla McTiernan wrote her thriller this way to perfectly depict the lengths a parent would go to protect their children even if they did the wrong thing.

I appreciated that we got to dive deep into Simon and Nina's parents thoughts and actions. It was so interesting to see how guardians show their love. Simon's dad's actions shocked the h-e-double hockey sticks out of me. From there the thrills and chills just continue to be thrown right at ya cheeks.

"What Happened to Nina?" is just screaming for all you true crime junkies to pick her up. It's perfect for your souls! Trust me!

🧗🏻‍♀️ True Crime
🌲 Feels Similar to the Gabby Petito Case
⛰️ Multiple POV
🧗🏻‍♀️ Shocking
🌲 A Deep Look into Parenthood

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ktdakotareads's review

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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queencleo's review

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dark 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

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