Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

4 reviews

kimveach's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

It's an excellent thriller - I couldn't put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Police brutality, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Cursing, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Abandonment, Child abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Torture, Alcohol, Body shaming, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Rape, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Gore, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, and Violence

Minor: Miscarriage, Cancer, and Pregnancy

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, and Confinement

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Infertility

dblue236's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Trigger warnings: Kidnapping, sexual abuse/assault, terrorism. 

I don't quite know why, but I had a really hard time connecting with the characters in this book. The storyline was strong, but I found myself not being able to root for anyone and not particularly caring how things turned out for them. Maybe it was just that I wasn't in the mood for this type of book at the time, I'm not sure. But at any rate, I found myself disappointed overall. Definitely not the worst thing I've read recently, but it wasn't particularly memorable especially where the characters were concerned. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Confinement, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Grief, Gun violence, Gore, Sexual violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Violence, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Cancer, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Chronic illness and Racism

hannahleebibliophile's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

In the new thriller The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean, teenager Elizabeth Black makes a shocking reappearance two years after being mysteriously abducted. Ellie, as she is known to her friends and family, is clearly ravaged by the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder; she sleeps in a crawl space instead of her bed at night, refuses to bathe or cut her long, matted hair, and is repulsed by physical contact with other people. Little by little, readers learn the horrifying story of her capture and forcible induction into a repressive cult on a deserted, rural property. Meanwhile, in alternating chapters, Detective Chelsey Calhoun works against the clock to find Ellie’s captors. She has worked the case since the earliest days of her career, motivated by a tragedy involving her sister during their teenage years. But as more information about other victims comes to light, Chelsey begins to suspect that Ellie herself is hiding something sinister. 

To me, this book is a masterpiece. As a voracious reader of mysteries and thrillers, I repeatedly thought I had this book’s plot and its characters’ motivations all figured out — and every time, I was wrong. Author Emiko Jean managed to keep me guessing until the last pages. This book touched on some incredibly dark but important topics:  survivor’s guilt and the freeze and fawn responses are only a few. I highly recommend this book. The opinions expressed in this review are mine. Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for access to the advanced reader copy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Rape, Murder, Violence, Trafficking, Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Medical content, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Excrement, Toxic friendship, and Grief

Minor: Infertility, Pregnancy, and Abandonment