Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Jackal by Erin E. Adams

26 reviews

marinnelilly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Racism

Moderate: Kidnapping, Death of parent, Grief, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Child death, Cannibalism, Rape, Murder, and Body horror

tey_lynn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Cursing, Death, Grief, Gore, Racial slurs, Animal death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Blood, Racism, Confinement, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

zumpers's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Hate crime, Animal death, Blood, Racism, Body horror, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Stalking, and Suicide

chefboyavi's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This is one of those books I wish I could love. It has a strong premise but the writing style didn’t resonate with me. It’s overwritten in a way that makes me feel like the author doesn’t trust the reader to follow her where she wants you to go. I think if it were a bit more restrained, it would be a great book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Violence

sjclay122's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Child death, Toxic relationship, Racism, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Death of parent, Violence, Murder, and Hate crime

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Kidnapping, Body horror, Hate crime, Grief, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Blood, Gore, Child death, Gun violence, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, Child abuse, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicide, Bullying, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Racial slurs, and Vomit

Misogynoir. Missing person/child. Descriptions of corpses (human and animal).

audaudaud's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Racism, Blood, Hate crime, Kidnapping, and Death

archaicrobin's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Liz reluctantly returns to the small and equally small minded town where she grew up for her friend Mel’s wedding. The town has a dark past of young black girls going missing and turning up later in bloody pieces, so when Mel’s daughter Caroline goes missing under Liz’s watch, it’s a race to find her before the worst occurs. The reader is taken on a journey to find out who or what took Caroline. 

Jackal started off very strong with interesting characters, excellent commentary on the double standards between missing white girls and missing black girls, and the deep rooted racism that permeates small southern towns. 

I was really into this for the first half of the book but unfortunately half way through, the story begins to get out of hand. There’s a lot of possibilities thrown around that aren’t ever really brought up again or are explained with knowledge that Liz shouldn’t realistically have. There was also a supernatural turn to the story that was very sudden, didn’t make any sense, and wasn’t really explained well. Along with the supernatural twist there was also a weird romance thrown in without much background and it was essentially a throw away storyline inserted to have yet another, red herring in this already jam packed mystery. I feel like the author has a great handle of the story at first but as it progressed things just got a little out of hand.

Along with the drawn out and confusing second half there are also quite a few typos that took me out of the story. One in particular that really got on my nerves was the switch between Liz referring to Mel as Melissa sometimes randomly for no reason with no context. One line she’d say Mel, two lines later it was Melissa before being Mel again. This inconsistency was minor but it really disconnected me from the flow of the story. 

Overall, this was great at first and had a lot to say but lost it towards the halfway point. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a thriller with weird vibes and doesn’t mind a pivoting storyline but not for fans of thrillers or those looking for a tight mystery. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Animal death, Racism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death of parent, and Gore

criticalmiss's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

3.75

I read this quickly (on audio) and I was very invested in the outcome. Was a bit touchy for me as a 9year gets abducted and I have a 10 year old. 
What the mystery actually turned out to be was a curve I didn’t see coming and I don’t know if I was 100% on board with it. Definitely still a compelling read. 

Lots of trigger warnings for this one : kidnapping, child murder, rape, racism, mental health, alcoholism

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Animal death, Kidnapping, Murder, Gore, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness and Death of parent

maryreadstoomuch27's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Animal death, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent