Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher

15 reviews

kassidyreads'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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Murder, Child abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Alcohol

heggoandhoggo's review against another edition

I had already listened to the audio book so I knew what happened. I asked for it for Christmas but I wasn't expecting to get it. This meant when I actually got it I didn't really want to read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Child death and Fire/Fire injury

This book is good. But it can be quite Graphic.

quite a few people die

There is a case of borderline

abuse lots of the gory stuff happens before the book starts and the book is sort of a reaction to it. One of the characters experiences lots of suicidal thoughts but you find that out early on.

A fire is lit late into the book but one of the characters dies by a car accident before the book starts

rosietoesies's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Murder, Car accident, and Child abuse

Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

shapesandcolours's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Child abuse, Stalking, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

honee's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Stalking

Moderate: Cursing, Alcohol, Car accident, and Alcoholism

chalkletters's review against another edition

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? No

3.25

My cover of This Lie Will Kill You announces that its audience is ‘fans of One of Us Is Lying’, which I’ve neither seen nor read. Despite that, I picked it up at my local tube station because the premise sounded interesting. Reading a mystery by a completely untried author is a different experience than with other genres. Whenever a clue is sufficiently noticeable, you have to ask yourself whether this is going to be a red herring or if the author just isn’t very good. 

Fortunately, Chelsea Pitcher proved not to be an author who’d drop clues too obviously and too early. Early indications did point in one particular direction, which was paid off around the midpoint of the book and, crucially, did not turn out to have given the ending away within five chapters. In addition to whatever similarities This Lie Will Kill You bears to One of Us Is Lying, there are also clearly inspirations from Agatha Christie. The structure is similar to And Then There Were None in that the reader is trying to work out which of the characters summoned to the location is involved in the plot, as well as the truth about all of their pasts.

Instead of (supposedly) rational adults, Chelsea Pitcher’s characters are teenagers, so of course the emotions are turned up to eleven, especially when romance is involved. Adult readers may not be convinced that a brief high school relationship amounts to soulmates meant to be together forever — but what matters is that it’s totally in character for Chelsea Pitcher’s teens to think so. The elegance and beauty of the prose helps to sell it without becoming distracting.

In some ways, the plot is similarly over-the-top and doesn’t entirely hold up to rational scrutiny, but then, high conceit mysteries don’t really play by the same rules as more realistic fare. It’s inherent in the subgenre that people are going to go to an awful lot more trouble than is really credible. As long as it holds together in universe, it’s still enjoyable reading. Where This Lie Will Kill You somewhat steps out of keeping is when it expects the reader to sympathise with the person putting this whole machination together. Given what ends up happening, the ending is just a little too light and hopeful to feel comfortable. (The ending would’ve hit harder if it had engaged with the darkness the way The Tulip Touch does.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, Child abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident

Minor: Blood

carbinara's review against another edition

reflective tense fast-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

1.5

The plot was fine and I quite liked it, but I hated how the characters were written. Well, mostly; I liked Brett, Juniper, and Gavin.

However, I found Ruby to be a bit of a mary-sue and her character totally changed after we find out she’s planned this (although I did sorta prefer her after). Also, Shane was the weirdest manic pixie dream boy character, and the whole slow dancing w Ruby on first meeting was just odd. Parker was too one dimensional as a villain. That being said, I liked the narration from him. </spoilers>

Plot wise, it was fast paced, which is always appreciated and I found myself shocked with some of the reveals

(mostly just that Juniper was sorta innocent)

Overall, a fun read but lacked well-written characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Child abuse, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Rape

loandbeholdx's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

This was a wild ride, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It helped me to get out of a reading slump, as I didn't want to put it down. After checking reviews when I had finished reading it, I was shocked that it wasn't getting much love. I personally thought this book was gripping, I was so invested in the characters, and I was so intrigued behind everyone's motives for their actions. Yes, it was a little bit unrealistic in places, but I felt that it made it all the more fun to read. It was pretty dark in places for a YA thriller, and explored some themes that are a little more adult, so check content warnings if you're planning on reading this yourself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Grief, and Gore

Minor: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Racism

hibsdontlie's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

• not a fan of the narration style
• first five chapters are kinda redundant; five character introductions but every character is a cliche and they all want to “get away from this town”? please. 
• this book lacks subtlety??? like oh a character named Ruby Valentine? gosh i wonder what color her hair is and oh it’s red because of course it is
• parker being the one who recorded the video was the reveal i didn’t realize was a reveal lmao
• you’re telling me the obsessive rich ex-boyfriend who has abusive tendencies is the one who was spreading the video of the girl who rejected him? no way dude /s
• and mind you there are like 7 characters total like who else could it have possibly been
• idk that whole part was written weird like why are any of the characters so shocked? are they all that naive or just dumb?
• only thing that really saves this book is ruby and her father but that’s like one chapter all the way at the end
• sometimes this book felt like it was written by a man idk 
• there were some parts when it would start to get good but then it just doesn’t v frustrating 
• rant over thanks for reading xx

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

valyn_grebe's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, and Sexual content