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goodnightngo's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Gun violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, and Pedophilia
readsandrants's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Pedophilia, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Car accident, and Abortion
Minor: Child abuse
mengzhenreads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
However, what kept me from giving this book 4 stars was that the actual mystery was fairly predictable, and I don't think that this book was particularly original in its concept and plot. This is a great book if you're a YA mystery-thriller fan who's on the lookout for more content regardless of how stereotypical or predictable it might be or if you're new to these types of books and haven't yet become fully familiar with many of the tropes that YA mystery authors use in their books.
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault
Minor: Child abuse and Drug use
lorie336's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Car accident, Gore, Grief, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Vomit
junefish's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, Grief, Murder, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Abortion, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Child abuse
the pedophilia is with underage teenagers (not small children)imstephtacular's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
Moderate: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Abortion and Child abuse
booksiread_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Moderate: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief
Minor: Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, and Police brutality
karlybug's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
people are very confused by this book. i picked it up because it’s got a killer cover (truly, no pun intended) and the back, as well as several reviews, compared it to Riverdale, and I was feeling like a campy Halloweentime romp.
this is NOT that.
i don’t know how to explain why the Riverdale comparison feels so incredibly wrong having finished this without giving away some things... i feel like maybe the people making those comparisons have never seen an episode of that (absolutely insane) show?
also, i won’t presume anything about a stranger’s life, but i also feel that the people who find Monica one dimensional or without growth have perhaps not felt depression or a deep personal loss... or at the very least not both at the same time. Monica’s journey for me (as someone who has experienced them) feels very true to these things, as well as PTSD.
all in all, i went in hoping for a nutso unrealistic scary thriller and instead got what to me felt like a very truthful and painful account of something that very well could happen. (again, people calling the plot unrealistic—are you living in a world more sheltered than mine? can i join you there?)
not the fastest paced and nothing shocked me. the chapters from the past felt mostly unnecessary, and i would like to tweak a few things regarding the final reveal and the denouement, but i’m not sure what everyone else is complaining about. if anything, we should be complaining about that (terrific) cover for essentially being false advertising.
[side note: as a young adult—in the truest sense; an adult who is still young, not the inaccurately named genre into which this book falls—i felt a real sense of the ways in which adults consistently, with children and teenagers, assume and enforce the idea that they automatically know better, and kids are idiots, and shut up. in my 20s i’ve had that horrible realization i assume everyone has—that adults actually DON’T know what they’re doing and have just been lying to all of us for years. it feels like such a raw deal to come to this understanding and as i continue to grapple with it, whether the author intended this or not, this book really drove that home for me at a few different points. i truly don’t think it’s said enough that adults don’t have everything figured out, and that kids shouldn’t automatically trust all of them, just because they’re older.]
Graphic: Death and Child death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual assault