Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Project by Courtney Summers

68 reviews

whatskatiereading's review

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Torture

_thelitlibrarian's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

3.75 stars
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TW: Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Torture, Car accident, Suicide, Death, Grief
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An unforgettable story that deal with love, grief, and betrayal. Lo Denham is an aspiring journalist with a dark past, her parents died in a car crash and she's been estranged from her sister the only family she has left for years. After the crash her sister Bea joins a lucrative group called The Unity Project and cuts all ties to the life she's lived - when a man comes into Lo's work claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo takes it as the perfect opportunity to dive into a world she isn't familiar with and figure out what has happened to Bea. What she doesn't know is there's a world full of lies, deception, and secrets waiting for her. 

Going into this I had such high hopes, I absolutely loved 'Sadie' but sadly didn't feel that same connection to this book. The plot was so intriguing as anything cultish is my kind of jam, but it just felt it didn't dive deep enough into it. I listened to this via audiobook which helped me finish as had I been reading, I would have DNF'd this as I just couldn't get into it. The story is told via multiple POV's but the narrator used the same voices for both sisters and it sometimes was hard to know who's POV we were in. There were some cringe moments throughout this book, and some heavy torture scenes that didn't sit well with me. I would describe this as a slow burn, but too slow for a thriller in my opinion, and it didn't leave me wanting more. It lacks twists and shocks, and really nothing happens until the climax of the book. Overall, if you're looking for a slow-burn thriller I suggest you pick this up!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Car accident, Suicide, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Torture

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Grief, Stalking, and Panic attacks/disorders

fangirlashley1's review

dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Even at her weakest, Courtney Summers is a great author and I’ll read anything she writes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Suicide and Murder

evelyno's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Torture

Minor: Suicide

morganperks's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Suicide, Grief, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Violence, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Blood, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Rape

libraryghost's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Car accident, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood

lisacanteven's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

This is my first Courtney Summers book. I know a lot of people read Sadie before and this book did not measure up. For me, I do not have that book to compare to. I still was left wanting so much more from this book that she gave us. I felt as if so much happened off the pages that we were hardly given enough of the story for it to make its impact. I've never read a book that left so much unsaid before, and let me say that I did not like that at all. 

The cult vibes were great though, so I rated it higher than I would have normally I think. I wanted a cult book, and I got one. It was pretty predictable the whole time, even without as much context as we deserved as readers. I didn't love it, but I didn't dislike it as much as I was expecting based on other reviews. I'm not sure I would read another book by this author though.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship

mmikadze's review

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse

inmidnights's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

Dark, unsettling. As with all her novels, Summer is great at making you feel like you’re with the narrator in the story. Felt sick at certain points in the novel because of the abuse. The main con about this book is that it’s so far, the most predictable one she’s written in terms of plot—not much suspense or mystery; everything happens exactly how you’d predict. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Torture