Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Schwarzer See by Riley Sager

18 reviews

librariangeorgia'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

I'm a big fan of Sager's books anyway so I knew that i'd love this one.

It does start off a bit slow, but once it gets going it goes full speed ahead. 

Following 2 similar situations that happened 15 years apart, it seems so obvious who the culprit is. However, I had my doubts about the fact that everyone assumed it would be Emma. Saying that, I didn't guess the actual whodunnit - the first reveal was a complete surprise for me but the second one, I feel now that it was more obvious after finishing the book than when I was reading it.

But that ending! That was one hell of a way to end it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I thought I would. I was completely absorbed in this book, I literally did not lift my head whilst reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Cancer, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Mental illness, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Murder, and Toxic friendship

cinthiaurora's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

I liked this book better than Final Girls and I do think the author has improved from it in terms of writing tension and suspense- HOWEVER Riley Sager very obviously has no idea how teenage girls speak, for one. To add to that, every female character (most characters are female btw) thinks and behaves in a way that makes it super obvious they were written by a male author, which is a pet peeve of mine. I gave this (almost) 4 stars anyway because I love a good Alison DiLaurentis-type psycho mean girl. Speaking of which I did pick up some lowkey Pretty Little Liars vibes from this book which is either the best thing about it or the worst thing about it. 

Also, maybe it’s just that I had made the connection between PLL and this book early on but the whole “Vivian was alive the whole time” thing in the end didn’t really come as a huge shock to me. Vivian obviously being the Alison in this scenario. In the show one of Alison’s aliases was even NAMED Vivian. I wonder if Sager was inspired by the series at all because it would be a funny coincidence if not. 
Oh one other thing, the whole moment with Theo in his car where he’s like “If you were older I would have kissed you back” ??? Now WHY would he go and say something like that? Ew. It sort of made sense when I thought he was trying to manipulate Emma’s feelings for him because he was up to something but now that I know for sure he was serious… Ick. Emma and Theo’s whole “romance” actually… questionable. Could have been done better for sure. 
Edit: bumped this down from 4 to 3.75 because after you think about it for a little bit a lot of things don’t quite make sense. What else can you expect from this type of book though right

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Stalking

Minor: Addiction, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

samisreadinq's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

I really love Riley sager!! Their books are always so incredible. This one is definitely my least favourite of his books but I still had a great time. The ending was was convinced me to give an extra star. The ending is really awesome and so engaging. I like having an unreliable narrator and not knowing if you can believe them.

I also liked seeing the past situation with viv, Allison and Natalie. And the dual perspective. Though it was written really well and added a lot to the book. I felt a bit bad for Theo he didn’t deserve that but also can understand Emma’s perspective too. Especially as she was only a child when it happened.

The writing as always is great and the plot well written. Riley has an incredible way of storytelling and engaging you the entire time. However, this time especially towards the start I didn’t feel that rush. That edge of my seat adrenaline that I always normally feel with his books. Definitely felt it at the end but I felt the start was a little slow for me. In comparison to his others books. 

Overall, this one is definitely a great time. But not my favourite of his books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

hapalyn's review against another edition

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, and Death

Moderate: Bullying, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug use, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Terminal illness

emily_mh's review against another edition

I had no idea that this book would sensationalise mental illness for tension and drama before going into it. I have finished it, but for that reason I won’t be rating it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Mental illness, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Murder, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Animal death, Grief, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia

Minor: Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, Addiction, Blood, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Excrement, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Cancer, Vomit, and Infidelity

sarajane96's review against another edition

adventurous 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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

leahlovesloslibros's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This one didn't pull me in quite as much as Sager's Final Girls, but I will admit it kept me guessing all the way through. The second half of the book held much more of the "shock factor" than the first half, and the twists were unpredictable. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Violence

Minor: Cancer and Terminal illness

motherelectricity's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Confinement and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual content, Alcoholism, and Body shaming