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Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Torture, Kidnapping
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Torture
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Abandonment
Minor: Suicide, Pregnancy
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic
The build up just for the itch not to get scratched. Don’t get me wrong, this book is sooo disturbing but it kept my hooked and is such a page turner and I like the dual pov (although the info provided more than once wasn’t needed). I’d say I enjoyed it to an extent, but I genuinely hated the turn out and people are so sick. Neither CG and PG got what they deserved and I’m always going to be mad about that, like fuck off
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Racism, Rape, Torture, Kidnapping
Moderate: Pregnancy
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping
+ I found the MC believable; she was flawed, fallible and multidimensional
+ the subtext of nature versus nurture was interesting
+ the story itself was sadly credible
- some of the more peripheral characters were less credible. Some characters really didn’t seem to serve any function and were dropped from the story for huge numbers of pages.
- I just didn’t love the ending… it all wrapped up too quickly. For example the podcaster was an interesting angle, which was then just finished very abruptly. Amanda Herron having the last chapter seemed silly because she wasn’t a character who’d been developed.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
The book has two narrators and two timelines. I really liked Sally's story which is set in late 2010s rural Ireland. She's a woman in her early 40s who describes herself as socially deficient and emotionally disconnected. She's bad at reading facial expressions and is very literal - when her adoptive father dies she 'puts him out with the bins' like he used to joke. This could be read as Autism Spectrum Disorder, but it becomes clear that there might be other reasons why she thinks and behaves the way she does. In Sally's story there were some moments of character-based humour and I loved the way she slowly learns to trust people.
The other side of the story is set between 1974 and 2020 and is very upsetting.
When these two storylines converge it felt rushed, and the ending was abrupt and
There's quite a bit of violence and abuse in this book but I particularly want to point out the following content:
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Pedophilia
Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Torture
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Kidnapping
Moderate: Bullying, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy