Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

19 reviews

alicenonsense's review against another edition

dark sad medium-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

4.0

Slaughter has a chronic case of writing "not like other girls" characters. Don't get it twisted though, this is a horror book. A lot of the reviews here seem confused about that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Trafficking, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Murder, Biphobia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Sexual assault, Blood, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, and Gaslighting

Minor: Pedophilia and Dementia

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

A vastly gripping psychological thriller that packs punch after disturbing punch of twisted lies and chilling in-depth details about a young woman’s disappearance.

Claire and Lydia, estranged sisters brought back together by another tragedy, embark on a journey almost twenty-five years old as new clues come to light about their older sister, Julia, who went missing when she was nineteen and was never found. Nothing is as it seems as present begins to connect rather ominously with the past.

This was my first Karin Slaughter book and man, did it deliver. It’s definitely a very dark book that seems to get darker with each shocking turn, not shying away from grisly facts or chilling thoughts. The writing was intense, fast-paced, evocative. Slaughter’s words made the story so vivid and realistic, my heart pounding the whole way through as if I were one of Julia’s sisters, too. 

If you’re a fan of Gillian Flynn, you’ll also devour this one. I found their writing styles quite similar and engaging.

I loved the way this story played out, the different story arcs that came to fruition. Of course, the subject matter is even more sinister then you’d imagine out the gate, but it was used so well in this one. 

I suspect I will be thinking of this book for a long time!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Alcoholism, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Addiction, Gore, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Suicide, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcohol, Body shaming, Excrement, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, and Gun violence

Minor: Body horror

erica_reads_things's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Overall not a bad read! People say that it is so incredibly gorey and disturbing - which it is - but I was expecting a lot moreso than it was. I could be a bit desensitized because I enjoy horror genre books, though. Still, an interesting plot that kept me guessing and I really loved the 3 different perspectives that Karin included in the narrative. It really tied the family together and made me feel for them. Character development was good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Torture, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Car accident, Drug use, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicide, Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Classism, Fatphobia, and Dementia

abbymackenzie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Stalking, Blood, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Gore, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Car accident, Drug abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Dementia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Grief

taylers's review against another edition

challenging 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A good book that was hard to put down. Lots of suspense. Pretty gory and disturbing at many points. Some plot points seemed to become forgotten over time and left to hang. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Excrement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Gun violence

Moderate: Stalking, Kidnapping, Addiction, Body shaming, Car accident, Drug use, Dementia, Vomit, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Eating disorder

Graphic descriptions of rape, torture, murder, and mutilation.

triple_m's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

While this book isn’t completely perfect, I dare say it is worthy of me giving it 5 stars. I just absolutely loved it, was enthralled the entire time, and really connected with the characters.

I’ll start with the cons because there are few: The chapters written to Julia from the dad can drag. Not even because they’re boring but the chapters with Claire and Lydia are so interesting that you’re tempted to skip ahead. And this is petty, but

I despise that Claire makes plans to get a drink with Nolan I get that he ends up being a “good” (relative) guy but he sucks. I also didn’t like using Adam as a red herring, it was never explained why he was so aggressive in the note he left for Claire, it didn’t really fit with what we know of his character.

This book is very graphic, which for me is a good thing, I enjoy novels with graphic content. That being said, the only graphic books I have read have been written by men and I don’t know if I can ever go back. It’s hard for me to describe but I could just tell this book was written by a woman (big positive). The moment you think the situation couldn’t get any more deprived, it does. 

Claire and Lydia are both arguably shitty people, or do put it tastefully I would say they’re both complex and flawed characters. They’ve experienced a significant amount of trauma so it makes sense that they’ve had a difficult time adjusting to life. 

Loved the book and was very satisfied with the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Body horror, Torture, and Rape

Moderate: Suicide and Drug abuse

Minor: Body shaming and Dementia

perplexed's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

Once again I'm coming in with a really torn review 

I will say now that there might be some spoilers in this review, and I'll flag them, but proceed with caution. Also TW: I reference SA and violence in this review

There were elements of this book I loved. The whole idea of "how well do you really know someone" is a trope I love to see explored, and this book started off doing that really well. I also really loved the main characters, Claire and Lydia, and part of the reason I finished the book was because I wanted to make sure they got out of their shenanigans okay.

I call it shenanigans because why wouldn't you get law enforcement involved, like surely if the FBI was there you'd be like hey so uh there's all this shit happening with my husband, here look at these videos, please help. Totally get the whole police and criminal corruption thing, but Fred Nolan was very obviously not involved with that (his interview with Claire later on in the book clearly showed this I think

 

That being said, so much of this book felt like gratuitous detail. I get that you want to make it clear how brutal something is, but you could get that without needing to graphically describe acts of SA and torture. I love body horror and gore, but the repeated graphic descriptions were *a lot* and I really recommend giving this book a skip if you're effected by any of the trigger warnings mentioned on these reviews. 

Also, shout out to the fact that either Claire or Karin Slaughter thinks that TOR is an illegal file sharing site. Very much legal, it's just a browser like Google Chrome but it doesn't track you, so I think TOR is actually the real good guy in this book. 

PS. Dad if you're reading this hello, please don't judge me for the books I've been reading recently, I've been on a kick of gross books ever since American Psycho but none seem to scratch the itch of violence with a message and they've all just landed on gratuitous violence instead :-( onto a Christmas romance novel next though so, bet you can't wait for that review! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Death, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Body shaming, Car accident, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

izypup's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Torture, and Confinement

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Stalking, Trafficking, and Vomit

Minor: Infertility and Pregnancy

the_escapist's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

I don’t want to say too much because it’s better going into it partially blind, but I will say this: it’s very graphic in places. A lot of the content is dark and massively messed up, and that’s either going to entice people or put them off.

Plot: involves the family of a missing young woman and a theme of ‘is it better to know what happened or remain ignorant?’.

I was fairly meh for around the first 25% of this book. Then there was an ‘oh shit’ moment. Followed by several more ‘oh shit!‘ moments at increasing volume. Then the last 75% was ridiculously gripping.

Amazingly tense, very fast to read writing style (might’ve helped with not inspecting potential plot holes too closely though – I suspect that on a reread some plot stuff wouldn't hold up as well), great character development, and it makes you fear for the characters and feel for them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Police brutality, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit