Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Die stumme Patientin by Alex Michaelides

48 reviews

k31r's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

As someone who has struggled with mental health and was almost given a borderline personality disorder( I ended up getting a rare-ish diagnosis that is very similar and treated in similar ways) , this book spoke to me in a way that felt comforting. Besides the story, the main thing that stood out was how at the same time chaos was ensuing I felt heard. I had an interesting upbringing, to say the least, having a story that captivated my brain for a minute and feeling a warm calm sense was appreciated. Do take this with a grain of salt, I may be blinded by comfort to fully rate this book accurately, but I do feel as though the story was well-constructed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Infidelity, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, and Self harm

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

waterbear0821's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.25

I enjoyed this and it was a very fast read. The writing was good and I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narrators as well. It was quite riveting and there were some interesting twists. I am typically wary of

unreliable narrator books, but this one was so clearly crammed full of unreliable narrators, it was fun to speculate about what was really going on.

I have mixed feelings about the very heavy use of therapy jargon and reliance on a weird kind of Freudian therapy model, but it did give  the story a reflective weight. I liked the analysis of all the different relationships and also how trauma in life manifests in unexpected and sometimes frightening ways. One thing I could have done without was the reliance on misogyny, stereotypes, and slurs against women. It’s not that the author was promoting misogyny, but it was just too much for me and unnecessary (though probably not uncommon for this genre). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Stalking, and Suicide

Moderate: Misogyny, Car accident, Drug use, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

yananhai's review against another edition

fast-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

holy shit this was soooo good, i swear i had no idea how this was gonna go and it was executed so well
i read this in ONE DAY, i have never read this fast before. it's absolutely amazing 10/10 would recommend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Death of parent, Suicide, Alcohol, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Kidnapping, Car accident, Stalking, Self harm, Blood, and Toxic relationship

alicevicini's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

 

I went into this book with low expectations because I saw many reviews of disappointed readers but turns out I really liked it! 

The premise was really interesting as well as Theo’s investigation on Alicia’s past. 

At a certain point I was wondering what the side plotline existed for since I couldn’t find any link to the main story and I found it quite disconnected, but at the end WOW. 

I hadn't seen coming the plot twist and it really shocked me! 

I also loved the ending although I found the part were

Alicia, drugged with morphine, manages to write a short story,

really far-fetched and pretty unrealistic. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Stalking, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Murder

miggyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Sexual content, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence

beamsreads's review against another edition

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? Yes

2.0

I know that I am overly critical of any media representation of therapy. I went to grad school for counseling and see the stigma and misunderstanding on a daily basis. Some of the things regarding how therapy typically works said in this book are flat out wrong and potentially harmful. I know it’s “just a book” but I still think it matters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Abandonment

caitlyn_rehs's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

Moderate: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Infidelity, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Body horror, Kidnapping, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Death, Drug use, and Gaslighting

rodi_queen's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

While I read this book, I found it mildly confusing when we were reading from the leading males perspective, especially in the context of how this was starting to take place over the span of 7 years and instead it just bounces back and forth between the past and present with little to no indication of the time lapse or jump.  

Also the leading female is considered beautiful and almost sexually referenced many times from the male’s perspective even though she is in a psychiatric ward due to killing her husband while she is in the main characters therapeutic care. 

The story it explains is a 5, Alcestis is an under appreciated literary piece in Greek history. The stories use of common reconstructed modern greek religion was a surprisingly pleasant piece of the novel. The Arete with Alicia’s father and husband, Xenia in the process of ritualized friendship explored by the character Jean-Felix and a strong emphasis placed on the two main characters trying to achieve Eudaimonia through freedom mostly and a couple points in self-suffiency. If exercises Greek traditions in that way. 

However, execution needs to be more direct in its timing of the story and the writing could be stronger on the female and male characters alike. In honesty, this book felt as if Alex was banking on the story of Alcestis and Greek culture to really sell his novel. In honesty that’s why I bought it so it worked, I was disappointed overall by how the characters were written and how the story was executed. Otherwise it’s a decent and interesting read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

allergachichi's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

The plot twists in this book were definitely uncalled for. this was so fast paced and amazing!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Addiction, and Kidnapping

abireadthat's review against another edition

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? No

2.5

Well… That was… predictable.
Sorry Alex Michaelides. The beginning had me intrigued and hooked because I wanted to learn more about why Alicia was so silent. What was it that had her mute all these years? And what the hell happened to her husband and how he was killed? Very intrigued.

It was such a 'meh' for me. I don't know if I'd actually class it as a psych thrilled to be quite honest. 

Unfortunately I am one of those people who can predict the end of thrillers / mysteries and I saw this one coming quite early on. I went "Hah imagine if this whole time *insert ending here*" yeah, I got that quickly.

⭐️⭐️

• Trigger Warnings:
• • Cheating
• • Depression
• • Gaslighting
• • Kidnapping
• • Murder
• • Self Harm
• • Stalking
• • Suicidal ideation
• Drug dealing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Self harm, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Drug use, Mental illness, Stalking, Murder, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, and Suicidal thoughts