Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

5 reviews

hannaheinhorn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

2.5

I listened to this on Audible and really disliked the male narrator’s speaking style. This book reads a bit YA. I had seen this book talked about as “literary horror” and truthfully, I wouldn’t consider it “literary” in the sense that it wasn’t very sophisticated, which in this case, was something I was hoping for. I didn’t hate it, but the ending did cheapen it for me. I wanted much more story on the dagger man and cared so much less about the kids who were investigating the story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, and Mental illness

perkyanda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

Really interesting way of playing with format and structure, interesting characters and take on writing and authors. At times the

repetition/recursion

gets tedious and teasing out

the actual narrative gets meh

but overall it’s an enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Homophobia

gondorgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Grief, Violence, Death, and Gore

Minor: Bullying, Pregnancy, and Animal death

kkalicky94's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, and Self harm

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

This is like the perfect summer horror novel. You have sun, sand, sea and tumultuous summer friendships.

Catriona Ward captures the immersive depths and fear that can come with the unknown ocean depths like no other author I’ve read. I’d say it’s a great beach read, but maybe not for those who have a touch of thalassophobia.

The first half of the novel had me obsessed. I loved Wilder’s perspective and the atmosphere Catriona Ward created, moving from the New England coast to dark academia and back. Unfortunately, from the 50-80% mark, the storytelling got quite confusing, trying to figure out who’s who, what’s real and what’s not, random time skips, and shoehorned in POVs, which left me feeling discombobulated. And I won’t get into any spoilers, but I have to say I hated the ending, I thought it was such a cop-out.

Thanks so much Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this advanced listening copy! I’d recommend this one, even given the parts I didn’t love, and it’s still a 4⭐️ read for me!

Overall, if you’re looking for a gothic horror read with a summer setting to cap off your August and get you ready for that September academic vibe, this is the one for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Grief, Kidnapping, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, and Violence

Minor: Abortion, Sexual content, Bullying, and Cursing