Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett

25 reviews

disguisedposer's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Abandonment, Police brutality, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

tabby2920's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I don't know how Hallett does it! Another winner by Hallett that dives in how far we can go to discover the truth and sometimes our faith can lead us down treacherous paths.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship

sophialib's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This was a great book, especially the audio version.  I think it would have exhausted me to actually read it, so I definitely recommend listening.  It took a little bit to get into since it’s written as a bunch of research documents and correspondences and felt too long at some points, but once I was into it I was hooked!  Very suspenseful; everything wrapped up nicely in the end and answered all of the questions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Kidnapping

tspice24's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Blood, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is like a season of the Podcast Serial mixed with a Sherlock Holmes novel. I’ve never read anything like it and I was engrossed from the first page. Instead of telling a story in a normal, linear way, you are presented with all of the evidence (emails, articles, text messages…) and it is left to you to figure out what to do with it. Highly recommend for anyone who is a fellow true crime junkie!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Violence, Gaslighting, Blood, Mental illness, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Suicide

tamara_joy's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Blood, and Gun violence

Minor: Racism and Fire/Fire injury

lautodd_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

Wild. Fire. Disturbing, but couldn’t put it down.

A story about a famous true crime novelist— persistent and doggedly and dangerously determined— writing an exposé novel about The Alperton Angels case: an 18-year old satanic cult case involving several murders-by-suicide-pact and a surviving teenage couple and their 2-month-old baby.

I’m not usually a true crime or mystery/thriller fan, but the story towed the tense line of eerie and practical very well.

In hindsight, it wasn’t a book that moved me so deeply as it was engaging and pleasing. Writing the novel with mixed media— WhatsApp messages, transcribed audio recordings, emails, hand-written letters, excerpts from the book-in-progress—was such a clever, befitting choice for this story and is probably would provoked me to read through the night. There’s something enticing, felt-morally wrong, and revelatory about reading messages and writings and recordings— the ins and outs— of a circumstance or a life. Perhaps satisfying our desires to be caught up in other lives and stories, not necessarily because we are disappointed with our own, but because there are other billions of stories and worlds out there outside of our own, and bearing witness to that— whether a lovely or gruesome one— is beyond fathomable; particularly proving that there’s so much of the finite that is infinite and outside of our control or imagination.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Violence, Murder, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Gore, Kidnapping, and Blood

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Mass/school shootings

bessadams's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, and Police brutality

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Mass/school shootings, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Sexual assault

bmpicc's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

I had fun solving this one too! I give Hallett a lot of credit for the style/set-up of her books. I can't even begin to imagine HOW she keeps it all straight and flowing and interesting... There are a lot of characters again, but I honestly did not struggle to keep track this time. Angels deals with a cult conspiracy and religion, so it might not be everyone's cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship

cdbert's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Listened on audiobook. Enjoyed that.

Good book, read right after Ecos book, Foucault's Pendulum, and enjoyed those back to back. They certainly support each other!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Toxic relationship, and Blood