Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

If You Tell by Gregg Olsen

47 reviews

wildroseoftexas's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

4.0

Heartbreaking. 

The author did an excellent job putting a horrific situation into a book. The book read like a novel and I often caught myself thinking there was no way this wasn’t fiction from a seasoned thriller author. 

I took one star because the timeline jumps back and forth were sometimes hard to follow and I had to reread a page to make sure I was following correctly. 

An important read to understand and be aware of signs of abuse and why victims, especially children, may struggle to ask for help or give light to the truth of what’s happening to them. 

Many many many trigger warnings. And don’t Google the mom after you’re done reading unless you want to scream and rage over the injustice of it all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Child death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

melly82092's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I don't think I have ever read a story more painful and gut wrenching then this one. The Author did an excellent job re-telling the events through the POV of those involved. This one is going to haunt me for quite awhile, I can feel it... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Death, Body shaming, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Torture, Murder, Mental illness, Cursing, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Drug use, Cancer, and Blood

mtehan7's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Torture, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Homophobia, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Cancer, Child death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Violence, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

cxxitlyn's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

1.5

The writing in this book really ruined it for me. It felt very poor for the first half, after that it just seemed I had grown “used” to it. The events described are horrific, and it’s hard to remember that these are things people truly lived through and experienced. Reading their story is really the only thing that kept me reading. Their events are told in detail though, so this book is not for the faint of heart as some of the things described are incredibly hard to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Bullying, Death, Abandonment, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Fatphobia, Grief, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Torture, Toxic friendship, Blood, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Cancer, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Hate crime, Murder, and Homophobia

nerfie's review

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, Bullying, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Body horror, Confinement, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse

janeleef's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Child abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Blood, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Murder

lizzyspooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

3.5

Rating is not based on the recounting of the crimes. This is a truly tragic story, but written in a way that was repetitive and, at times, hard to keep reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Domestic abuse, Torture, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence

purpleshamrock's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Child abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Murder, Slavery, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Cancer, Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

ka_ke's review

dark emotional informative slow-paced

3.0

I didn’t realize If You Tell was non-fiction until I actually started reading it. But the content of this book reaches a level of dark monstrosity that not even Stephen King himself would write it. The Knotek case is a once-in-a-lifetime look into psychopathy with plenty of theories as to how Shelly Knotek’s early childhood impacted her through out her life until her imprisonment. It also shows just how effective abusive individuals can be with their victims. For Shelly to claim having cancer for literal decades with no one questioning her, its almost amazing to learn about. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

madsreads_'s review

dark sad slow-paced

2.0

as you can see by all the content warnings - a grim read. also felt like the author was kind of revelling in the vivid descriptions of abuse????? the story felt almost fictional in the way it was written, unlike other true crime I have read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Mental illness, Murder, Alcoholism, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Suicide, Bullying, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Violence