Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

In the Woods by Tana French

13 reviews

kcarney86's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Child death, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Body horror, Bullying, Grief, Murder, Self harm, Incest, and Physical abuse

Minor: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Sexual content

najmanasir's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Giving this book 3 stars because the ending was very predictable. This was a buddy read, and we figured out the plot pretty early into the book 😭 Honestly, I wished this book had a different ending because our other speculations were much more complicated and interesting. Also, Rob became really frustrating towards the last few chapters, that I just wanted to fight him. The only good thing that came from Rob was when he admitted that he was an idiot during this case because he was ☠️ The book also tries to convince you that you were "fooled," and I will be taking offense to that ✋😭 It basically insinuates that the reader was never going to figure out the plot when in all honesty it was really obvious to me.

Although I have my complaints, I still enjoyed the book. I haven't read a mystery thriller in a while, so this was a nice palate cleanser from all the fantasy I've read. I definitely recommend reading the book with a friend because it was fun bouncing ideas off one another and sharing our reactions as we read. Finally, I will be thanking Tana French for Cassie's existence because she was my favorite character 🫶 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Child death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

awebofstories'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Gaslighting, Death, and Child death

nat20charisma's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense

4.0

That was an emotional rollercoaster! 

Tana French is a talented writer. She can make you care about a character, then completely change your mind. The story was disorienting and shocking. This story is not for everyone; there were many dark topics presented. PLEASE CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS! 

I am glad they found Katy’s killer, but after such an emotionally taxing book, it’s not as satisfying when one of the killers gets away. Or that we never got an answer for Ryan’s murdered childhood friends.

  I would have enjoyed a slightly happier ending with a clean wrap up after such a dark story, but real life is never so simple and easily concluded. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, Child death, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Death, and Rape

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide attempt

chefboyavi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

2.0

I came at this book a bit backwards because I read The Likeness first, and unfortunately I don’t think that did this book any favors. I enjoyed The Likeness up to a point: it’s well written and the mystery is compelling, but it’s overwritten and the characters lost their luster over time. In the Woods is also well written and has a compelling mystery, but the MC (who I honestly can’t tell if French wants us to sympathize with) is impossible to get behind. Ultimately, it’s a slog to get through to the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Self harm, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Violence

raekit's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Murder, Rape, Child abuse, and Child death

kecresser's review

challenging 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

4.0

I really loved the beginning of this book - it's dark, tense, moody, and gives me the same vibes as the TV show Silent Witness, although that may just be because on the characters in the first few seasons is also from Ireland. Rob and Cassie's partnership was very entertaining and felt well-developed. The ending of this book let me down. Even after the discovery of the killer, things felt very open ended, although maybe that's the whole point. I think that author writes very well, although the language was a bit flowery and overly descriptive for a crime thriller, in my opinion. Overall, it was enjoyable, even thought it left me feeling unsettled at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Child death, Death, Murder, and Pedophilia

wildautumnchild's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Child death, Grief, Bullying, Rape, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Murder

bmbpp's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

i liked a lot of things about this book, but i'm afraid they're not enough to overshadow the things i disliked. Rob was absolutely insufferable, i know that's part of the point of the book and i myself am a fan of morally gray characters in stories. however, the way his moral grayness was handled just made me uninterested in what he was doing, which is quite a bad thing when you consider he's the main character and the narrator of this book. making him feel the hots for a minor or for someone who he called at least twice "someone he sees as a sister" just makes me see him as a creep. another thing about him that i just found impossible to ignore were the amount of misogynistic comments that are lightly thrown into some of the passages. things like describing a dead child's breasts, putting emphasis on how small and childlike Cassie was, the fact that she's "not like other girls" and the constant stereotyping of women just turned me off. at least he's self aware that he's absolutely infuriating, but for me that doesn't redeem it. i really liked Cassie, she's a well developed character with reasoning and motives, highly intelligent and one of the things that kept me going. the other thing that kept me invested, was the crime itself. i think it was very well handled, the discovery of the whole story was quite shocking to me (take that with a grain of salt because usually when i read books i'm not looking to predict what happens) and even though we never do find out what really happened at the woods i think that was actually a good characteristic of the story. the writing is great, very engaging and descriptive, the dialogue flows really well and is extremely believable. i believe the author has done an extreme amount of research in order to put this together. the fact some of the relationships in the book start falling apart was actually surprisingly well done and shows some consequences to all the fuck ups Rob basically subjected himself to. stunning atmosphere and exactly what i expected from a dark detective book. summing all this up, a big part of this book would've been removed if the communication was better and if Rob went to therapy. i have no idea if i'm gonna continue this series, probably out of curiosity 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Child death, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Bullying, Blood, Alcohol, and Body shaming

reedcodes's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Rape, Murder, Child abuse, Child death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Body shaming, and Panic attacks/disorders