Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Naked in Death

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

traceyanderson's review

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challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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chantaal's review against another edition

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3.0

What drew me into this and kept me going was how similar this is to Urban Fantasy that I enjoy. You've got a strong, stoic female lead who has to solve some sort of mystery, and who meets a hot alpha male along way. Just change the set dressing from magic to futuristic sci-fi, and the alpha animal male to an alpha billionaire human male, and you've got Naked in Death.

The mystery itself wasn't compelling. I found the sexual violence of the killings absolutely unnecessary and gratuitous - they did nothing for the story as a whole aside from increasing shock value. Oh, and the sexual violence of the memories of women who were sexually abused as children - holy fucking shit, that was a bit too much. There's a fine line between showcasing women who have that trauma in their past, and having certain moments spelled out in brutal detail. FOR NO REASON. I will not hear otherwise. There was NO reason for some of the horrific detail. And to have this be a major trauma of Eve's past? So this is going to keep going on??

As characters, Eve and Roarke were fine. Eve felt very much like a stereotypical urban fantasy lead character, just with a Be The Best Cop chip on her shoulder to mask her trauma. Roarke was a billionaire mystery man whose only personality is that he's rich and sexy and finds Eve intriguing. I was surprised at how damn fast the romance moved in this. Instalove happens even in the future, I guess.

And yet here I am, writing this review even as I'm almost done with book 2...like I said, compelling. The character and plot beats are very reminiscent of Urban Fantasy and the comfort of those get me through reading slumps. We'll see how far I'll go with this series.

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jg93's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.5

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alliecat13's review against another edition

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4.0

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kriskat38's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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sshpurple1's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

I have recently listened to the audiobook for the first time and have to say I liked it. Though I would love to have a dramatized adaption done, I think it would be amazing. It is an Urban Sci-fi that holds up even almost 20 years later. Some gadgets are a little behind today, but not by much. Most interesting are the political issues and speculative changes in laws, such as gun laws, family laws, and legalized prostitution.
The secondary characters are two-dimensional but still interesting and add to the story's movement. As for the main characters, Eve Dallas a cop who lives in a dark world, standing for the dead and is strong in both body and ethics. Then there is Roarke, an intelligent, confident, determined Irishman. Admittedly, he is borderline abusive with all kinds of red flags, but of course, he would never cross the line. But Robb/Roberts makes it work with the development of Eve and Roarke, letting us know enough about their past to understand just how damaged and horrific their childhoods were, making them stronger instead of broken, especially together.
I would highly recommend this book, but please search for trigger warnings. This book is mildly dark but still covers issues like child abuse.

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chanteld's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? No

2.5

This needs content warnings. This is my second reading of the book and it took me over 75% of the way through to remember who the killer was. I might listen to book two.

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