Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Schwarzer See by Riley Sager

19 reviews

trulydevious's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Kidnapping, Eating disorder, and Pedophilia

ging090803's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

4.75

For the moment, I really like Riley Sager. Again, it think this book was really good. The end was so good. 
I liked how we didn't really know if what she was seeing was real or not. Poor Emma. I really liked how the past and present were mixed. 
Sager, again, gave us many suspects to put our mind on, I never knew what really happened. My suspicion went on and off continuously.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Stalking, Alcohol, Body shaming, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Bullying and Kidnapping

bookishgoob's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

Sager’s work is so confusing to me. he can write incredible stories and he can write terrible stories with good ideas. this happened to be an incredible story. i could be biased because i LOVE summer camp horror stuff but i was intrigued the entire time. The plot twist was so interesting. I still have a slight problem with the way he write women sometimes but i did enjoy this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Torture, and Violence

riella_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.75

 This is soooo close to being a 4, but the beginning was just a little too slow for me. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would due to some of the reviews, but I think that helped me have low expectations. I thought I had it all figured out, and I did in part, but ultimately I was still left surprised. I have now read all of Sager's work except from his most recent release, which I hope to read soon! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, and Toxic friendship

loony_lucy's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

First Riley Sager and I really enjoyed this. Was gripping from the beginning and was an enjoyable read. Theo is just 🤤😮‍💨. But I must say the ending was a little bit wild for me. I would have like a bit more explanation than that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Kidnapping, and Grief

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

lorie336's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Riley's second book doesn't disappoint with plot twists especially at the very end. Yes, for me, another page turner because I had to know what happened and was surprised, then realized angry, not at Riley at the character, if you have read it you'd understand why.

Again, loved how I jumped from pointing fingers at almost everyone to being completely wrong and I love it.

If you're looking for a good summer thrill then go back to camp with Emma where 15 years ago her fellow bunkmates disappeared and were never found. She comes back to find out what happened, but is history doomed to repeat itself since there are those that have also come back that were there 15 years ago?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Violence

reading_with_t's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.0

 Mystery. Trauma. Revenge.

Sager has a knack for creating a story and giving you bits at a time to keep you enthralled and on the edge of your seat. This was no exception! It definitely had me gripped and I wanted to know how it ended, but it was a little slower than his others for me.

This one built to a fairly large twist that was slowly pieced together throughout the book. It mostly takes place at a summer camp and discovering the history of the place, the others, and the potential answer to what happened to three missing girls 15 years ago, definitely doesn't let you put the book down. Being at a summer camp definitely makes it a good summer thriller!

In comparison to the other two books I've read by him, it was slower and the twist was less shocking, so I rank it below the other two by him, however, as a thriller this is still an amazing book!! Sager truly has a gift for writing captivating and gripping stories with pieces that connect in a way you don't see coming! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Cancer

a_robin_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Information:

• Library book
• Book club: Mrs. Dunn Reads

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Review:

This book was very underwhelming for me. It wasn't thrilling enough for me. The twists were totally not spooky. 
What I liked about this book was the writing, the character development and the descriptions. Therefore this rating.

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Review previously placed on my blog:

I read Last time I lied by Riley Sager. I read this for the Currently reading book club hosted by Mrs. Dunn reads. 

This book was very underwhelming for me. From the start it was sort of intriguing, but already pretty mediocre. I was pretty much waiting for the reveal what the MC was lying about. When that point came it was very underwhelming. The ending was even more underwhelming. The writing was actually very good. I really liked the discriptions and the characters as well. For that I gave this 2,5 stars, but I don't think this is a very good thriller. Am really looking forward to other books by this author though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Grief, Death, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, and Suicide