Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

All These Bodies by Kendare Blake

7 reviews

guessgreenleaf's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Alcohol

paigestilwill's review

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

2.75

Blake’s writing is quick-paced and spooky, and she does well to build tension and mystery over the course of the book. What I was less impressed with, like many other reviewers, was the sheer amount of unanswered elements left hanging at the end.

Additionally, for it being a piece set in the 50s, Blake wrote about the teens in a very modern way, a couple of times mentioning soda pop shops or drive-ins, but not really framing the language in any concrete way to make you FEEL like you were in that time period. In fact, many times I had to remind myself that it was set in the 50s, because the writing style and diction didn’t reflect that. Once I thought, why not check security cameras, completely forgetting that was not an option in the 50s 🤦🏻‍♀️

I also found many parts of this story unbelievable—how a 17 year old was allowed to investigate the most prolific serial killer in the country,

Marie being covered in blood from throwing up on herself (what??? The physics don’t add up)

, the lack of depth and complexity afforded many of the characters, including the Nebraskan DA,

Steve’s friends threatening to shoot Michael for trying to get to the truth about his murder

… the clarifications we do get seem half-baked and not well thought through. 

In all, it was quick and the fast cadence of the plot made it a more gripping read, but it felt like much of the building action was pointless, and I expected and wished for more answers, even if it hadn’t been all of them. There’s nothing wrong with leaving readers wanting more, but this one had more loose ends than seemed necessary. I understand wanting the reader to make their own conclusions, just like the public had to when similar cases actually occurred in history. However, after 300 pages, the reader deserves some semblance of an explanation, rather than a half-hearted ending that raised its own questions more than answers. 

I’m not sure if I’d return to Blake’s work in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Physical abuse, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault

Minor: Gun violence

vismyth's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

It's a 2 and a half for the interesting setup and initial ambiguity that really does drag you into the story wondering whether there is a supernatural twist or not and what happened to end up with a teenage girl drenched in blood surrounded by bodies
but that ambiguity is never resolved and the ending isnt satisfying enough to make up for it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexism, Confinement, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Cannibalism

implied sexual assault, implied grooming of a minor

notpercyjacksonyet's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Why did I read this book? I wanted a thrilling mystery, but it ended up being such a slog, all to get a dissatisfying ending. If I wanted to be disappointed in the Justice system and never know the truth, I’d listen to true crime podcasts. I get that it’s supposed to reflect the real world, but that’s not what I want from a book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Grief

Minor: Bullying, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

vixenreader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

The ending is anti-climatic, but the story still has an interesting perspective in how individual view and rationalize their own truths, despite never really knowing the truth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Misogyny, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Medical content, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Sexual content, Vomit, and Cursing

Minor: Car accident, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

There is also scenes of imprisonment and guilt, as well as disturbing mythology.

katiedykema's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was a quick read, I read it in only a day, but as the book went on my rating of it dropped. I flew through the first 150 pages but around halfway through the book, the story began to get a bit muddled. Marie’s interrogation sessions with Michael were not as important to the plot as they should have been, as they seemed to be entirely comprised of Marie giving very short, occasionally contradicting details and Michael making jokes. It made the story hard to follow, especially with the side plot of Pilsen believing and weaving a different story from Marie’s. Another aspect of this book that made the story more confusing than it should have been was the vampire allusion. It was unclear whether the vampire part of the story was real or metaphorical, making the ending hard to interpret because I couldn’t figure out if Michael wanted to kill Marie or bring her back, and if that was even necessary. I enjoyed the characters of Michael and Marie, but they did seem a bit flat. I think this book was pretty enjoyable, but could have benefitted from being longer than only 290 pages to fill in gaps in the plot and flesh out the characters further. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Gun violence and Death of parent

sunsetcity's review

dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence