Reviews tagging 'Child death'

If You Tell by Gregg Olsen

93 reviews

crazyras101's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Torture, and Murder

katepruett's review

dark tense medium-paced

4.0

disgusting and disturbing and violent and engaging AND TRUE. the way that this book is written sucked me in so deep. the ending moved a little quick for how long I felt invested, but maybe that’s just how true crime is? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse and Vomit

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

n4yma's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

bookishwhims's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

5.0

This was perhaps one of the darkest  and most disturbing books I have ever read. What made this book even harder to stomach is that this isn't a work of fiction.
 If you are going into this account of the heinous crimes of Shelly Knotech with the expectation of getting answers as to "why" a person does something like this or what turned her into a person who could do these things, you will be disappointed. The goal of this book is to tell the story of her victims and perhaps her longest-suffering victims, her daughters. This is the story of three sisters' horrific abuse at the hands of the person(s) meant to love and protect them most in the world. I'm not  leaving this book with all the answers I'd like nor am I leaving feeling as though justice was achieved, but that is true with most crimes. 
This book and this story, I fear, is going to stick with me for a very long time.

*Check tw*
*audiobook*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

parksnbooks's review

challenging dark emotional reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

stayceee24's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

An awful story told exceedingly well. Not for the faint hearted.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, and Gaslighting

livia_0612's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Murder

your_geekygf's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

2.0

This book is a true story but it is unbelievable. It is graphic, sad and frustrating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer and Rape

ashleyneidick's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

3.0

The stories told in this book are truly, absolutely horrific. You can’t help but feel for the victims. But the way the book is written makes everything feel pieced together, which it is to an extent, but there are a ton of blanks that could have been filled in that weren’t - such as almost nothing written about the police and why they didn’t act sooner, and so much was left out of the trials. It was hard to get through and finish this book for more than one reason.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia

dsimon22's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.5

This was an incredibly hard book to listen to and finish. It’s a true story so it made it hard to continue knowing this happened and that these girls had to go through all of this. I am disgusted by all the mother did and how sick and twisted she was but I’m even more sickened that her husband never noticed half of was was going on and that he allowed her to manipulate him into being somewhat his accomplice. I’m angered by their sentencing because they both in my opinion deserve to be in prison a lot longer than what they were sentenced!!! Overall a well written book just not sure this is my kind of read I could read over and over

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder