Reviews tagging 'Death'

Freunde. Für immer. by Kimberly McCreight

4 reviews

maria8w4's review

adventurous challenging 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Gun violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Violence

foreverinastory's review against another edition

mysterious 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

4.0

I somewhat hated a lot of these characters, but I also couldn't stop reading this. They were unlikeable but very compelling. I still am surprised by how invested I was with this book.

Friends Like These is a thriller about a group of friends. They're all hiding something and over a weekend in the Catskills things erupt. By the end of the weekend, all the secrets are out and someone else is dead. This doesn't count what happened to Alice all those years ago and the events that lead to Alice's death.

This was well crafted. I enjoyed the short POVs and the way the story unfolds. The timeline jumps from the beginning of the weekend, the end and events from the past. So many of these characters do shitty things, but their motives were understandable and while I didn't like their choices, I got why they made them. Also the ending really surprised me. It was well delivered.

Rep: white cishet male MC, Black cishet female MC, East Asian American gay cis male MC, white cishet female MC, gay male side characters. 

CWs: Murder, drug use and abuse, alcohol consumption, addiction, blood, death, gun violence, mental illness, suicidal thoughts, presumed suicide, violence, stalking, car accident, fire, toxic friendship, injury/injury detail. Moderate: sexual content, emotional abuse/manipulation, misogyny, racism, homophobia/homomisia, sexism, sexual harassment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug abuse, Blood, Violence, Stalking, Alcohol, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Drug use, Addiction, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism

kimveach's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked this, but not as well as I did "Reconstructing Amelia" or "A Good Marriage".  All the characters were so disagreeable that I almost didn't care who did it.  However, it was a good and twisty story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

unboxedjack's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.0

The premise of this novel seemed to be up my alley.  A group of friends, connected by some horrific tragedy, get together and disaster ensues.  But then it gets...convoluted.  Complicated plots I can handle and even enjoy, but this felt messy.  The author's use of multiple viewpoints, times, and stories created a difficult to follow plot at times.  There were far too many red herrings, but I will admit that the twist ending was good, albeit relatively implausible.  Was this the best thriller I've read?  No, but it was entertaining enough.  A solid three stars for sheer escapism.

Thanks to Harper for a complementary advance copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, and Murder

Minor: Suicide