Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard

9 reviews

taliatalksbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard was a bit convoluted, but oh so worth it. I usually hate non-linear, repetitive timelines, and I fully expected this to be one of the worst offenders after the first few chapters, but I very quickly learned I was going to be proven wrong. I really liked the characters in this book, and felt torn between loving them and hating them (but loving to hate them). I loved the way it switched perspective, and our author really delivered here because I almost never say that. The way details were revealed kept you guessing throughout, and while I would say this is more of a mystery than a thriller, I was intrigued and devoured this in 2 sittings (because silly me I started it at 9PM on a work night). I could have easily read this cover to cover if given enough time and I think if you’re a fan of mysterious but realistic stories, this would be a great fit. I truly liked this book far more than I thought I would, so I tip my hat to @bookofthemonth for bringing this one into my life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

amris's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Blood, Child death, Confinement, and Violence

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Suicide, and Grief

happyknitter2020's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Upsetting story as followed a real murder of a child in the UK & writing basic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Child death, Death, Grief, Murder, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Violence

martamae77's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Sexual content and Terminal illness

whirl's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

It is really weird reading about Dublin in the early days of the pandemic, while still living through it’s later stages 2 years later. She sets the scene really well and her description of Dublin during lockdown definitely brings back memories 

The story itself is also very well done, with plenty there to keep it fresh and a little different

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts

beckyremillard's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Ciara and Oliver meet shortly before Ireland goes into lockdown for COVID-19. They move in together quickly because otherwise they couldn’t see each other at all. 

The story is told from several different perspectives, including Ciara, Oliver, and the police detective, Lee. It also goes back and forth in time. 

I absolutely loved this story. I wasn’t sure if I’d like a book about COVID while we’re still dealing with it, but wow it was so good. The nonlinear storyline gave bits and pieces of information and left me desperately wanting to keep reading. It was also great to get several perspectives on the same scene. 

I cannot say enough good things about this book. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone interested in thrillers and I’ll definitely read again sometime.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Gore

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Terminal illness

lou_o_donnell'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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

therobinjoyce's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 Definitely a five star murder mystery for the modern age.
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When I found out that 56 Days was a thriller set against the backdrop of the first pandemic lockdown of 2020 I jumped at the chance to give it a read and boy did this story keep me hooked.
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Nothing was as it seemed. The whole story flowed so well between past and present following the first meetings, journeys, challenges, histories, and secrets of the main characters - Ciara and Oliver - as well as detective Lee who takes on the mysterious case of the body in the bathtub.
⠀
It was so well-written and evocative, I kept getting chills at the memory of how close Catherine's writing was to the actual events that happened back in early 2020. It was uncanny and so well described. Full of twists and turns, I never knew where the story was going and was hooked on it literally until the very last page.
⠀
*𝚁𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚍𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚙𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚗 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠* 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Grief and Terminal illness

Minor: Suicide and Stalking

ekmook's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Terminal illness