Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Mother loves me by Abby Davies

3 reviews

zoebill96'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Blood, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Confinement, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Gun violence, and Incest

Moderate: Abortion, Body horror, Cursing, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Gore, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Murder, and Self harm

bethhreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Kidnapping, and Blood

Moderate: Abortion and Sexual assault

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I don't know why I do this to myself. I pick up a book like this, it makes me incredibly tense and instead of taking my time I read the whole thing in 24 hours! I was not surprised to read that Davies was influenced by Emma Donoghue and Paul Pen. I was reminded of Room and Light of the Fireflies, and did the same thing with those books.

Reading this in such a short time is incredibly immersive but also very draining. My heart would be pounding and I had to keep reading to know what would happen, it's very creepy! The writing from Mirabelle's perspective is really well constructed, learning as she learns but with a 13-year-old's naivety (especially one in her position). The '70s setting is clever as it gives much more narrative freedom to the story - no GPS, smartphones, tracking etc.

Towards the end things get quite visceral and incredibly dark. It was possibly past my normal limit but I had to respect how clever it was to draw me in so completely. I also wish I didn't have so many questions left at the end - I think I could've relaxed more if there'd been more to the conclusion, but perhaps that was part of the point...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Vomit, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Child death