Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

24 reviews

booksbyantheia's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

 Como lectura en general, llenó todos los espacios requeridos para ser un libro bueno. Personajes relativamente sólidos, una trama segura, con los espacios de misterio necesarios. Quizás fue esa trama esperable la que la hace un libro bueno, pero no excelente, y no tan memorable. (Sorry, Simon)

Y quizás hasta esos puntos favorables no son tan fuertes. Solo sentí que Bronwyn estaba desarrollada al máximo. Sus pequeñas luchas consigo misma, sus motivaciones, sus secretos. Siento que el menos desarrollado fue Cooper. 

Si bien su homosexualidad es algo muy importante para todo el "estereotipo" que construyó como máscara, eso no me hizo sentirlo un personaje más profundo que Bronwyn.

  Addy me parece la peor desarrollada en general.

La trama es predecible. Soy estúpida y conecté todo mal, pero acerté a cada suceso (atribuyéndolo erronéamente, pero aún así). 

Incluyendo el plot twist de Jake. No lo adiviné bien, pero sabía que estaba involucrado de alguna manera.

Eso muestra que fue una escritura muy cuidada y notable. Las pistas estaban ahí, pero lamento que en cierto punto se haya pasado de foreshadowing a exceso de detalles.

Es una buena lectura, recomendable para meterse en el género de misterio. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Abandonment, Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Mentions of divorce, body hatred, low self-esteem, non-explicit sexual content.

abi_ineedtoreadmore's review

challenging emotional funny mysterious sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Self harm, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Outing, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Pregnancy

modernathos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

First of all, I did not see the reveal coming. It was one of the most original plot twists I've read in a murder mystery so far.

However, the story went a bit too slow for me to rate it any higher than I have. It was very good, but it took me about half the book to really get pulled into the mystery. Still very much a recommendation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Violence

Minor: Medical content

gailsage_thomps's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Suicide, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Mental illness, Bullying, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Grief, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Gun violence, Sexual content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Car accident, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Drug use, and Sexism

mllewellyn's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Good plot but under whelming 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Medical content

miakeough's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Addiction, Cursing, Murder, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Medical content, Cancer, Car accident, Homophobia, and Mass/school shootings

megan_j's review

adventurous 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

4.0

When I started reading this I thought it was just going to be a bit of a rubbish YA mystery, but in the end I actually found myself really enjoying it! Reading it sort of felt like watching a film, and I felt like I couldn’t get enough. I did see ‘the twist’ coming a little bit (not completely) but I didn’t guess who was involved. I did actually get quite invested in the characters too which I didn’t expect. Overall it was a nice twist on a classic whodunnit with the ‘typical’ stereotype characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Bullying, Death, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Outing

Moderate: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Bullying

Minor: Sexual content

eleni1201's review

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Murder, Suicide, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, and Medical content

allyhoo811's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.0

From a pure reading enjoyment factor One of Us Is Lying should have been given a 4 star rating, but because of my background in mental health counseling/education I felt like I had to lower it to a 3 because of the handling of a couple of issues which I'll list at the end of this review.

Overall, I found this to an engaging YA mystery. The characters and their secrets/motives were pretty cliche and easily guessed, but the overall character development (especially with Addy) was wonderful and I would definitely recommend this one to most people. It gave me huge Breakfast Club vibes and I think fans of 80s/90s teen movies would especially enjoy the nostalgia factor even though it has a contemporary setting. 

I did not love the ending/epilogue,

it was just too cheesy teen rom-com for me and I don't think it really fit with the rest of the book. But I understand that it probably is what was expected in a YA novel.

My 2 Big Issues (contain major spoilers):

1. Simon killing himself was a really interesting (if somewhat predictable) twist, but the portrayal of Simon as someone suffering from depression was unfortunate. Many people (teens included) suffer from depression, but they don't create elaborate, evil revenge plots to take out everyone who ever looked at them funny. Most people with depression have a hard time getting out of bed. And Simon had been destroying people's lives for years, portraying him as someone who was depressed and felt like an outsider when he was actually probably suffering from some severe personality disorders puts a bad light on depression, especially in a YA book.

2. Jake's character arc. This is a thriller trope I hate, and I hate it even more in a YA mystery. Jake the "perfect" boyfriend with some controlling tendances turns into a psycho killer at the end of the novel. This is just so overdone and not logical. Yes, people who attempt to control their partners are more likely to engage in emotional and physical abuse. But Jake had gone months without the slightest indication that he was escalating after he found out about the cheating (and kept it to himself). His mask didn't even slip once. And by the end we have a crazy action sequence where he is trying to kill two people without any hesitation. It felt forced, and I think Addy's character arc would have been better served without the killer boyfriend trope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Stalking, and Transphobia

creepypiespice's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Racism, and Pregnancy