Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Last Word

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Last Word by Taylor Adams

204 reviews

collinsd's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

lilifane's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

This is a surprising and unexpected book. I did not expect the scary atmosphere in the first half. I was reading it at night, before bed, alone at home... would not recommend. Or maybe I would recommend it for the goosebumps. It felt a little too similar to the plot of the book, with the protagonist alone in an isolated house at night. At least she had a dog. It doesn't happen often that I am genuinely scared while reading, but this book managed to creep me out. Then it tuned into a full on action packed slaher, and it felt like watching a movie in my mind. On the other hand, the book doesn't take itself too seriously and the dark humor made me giggle several times. There were also more twists and turns than probably good for a plot, but I really enjoyed them, didn't even try to predict anything just because of how wild the story got. And when you think you've reached the end.. there is still 20% left, and you get another ending and another and another. I enjoyed these, so it didn't drag for me.
I have one critique, though. There is a revelation towards the end which felt misplaced and unnecessary. It felt like something too serious for the kind of story this was. And it was used for shock value and to quickly add an emotional element, which worked. But it felt cheap, unearned and again unnecessary. So I recommend you look up trigger warnings.
The dog mentioned above suffers a lot during the plot, but don't worry, it survives, thankfully.

Content Warnings

gabyspinktasticlibrary's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional tense fast-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

This book kept me intrigued from beginning to end! Whenever I thought I knew what was going to happen I would end up shocked by what really happened! I definitely recommend reading this book for anyone looking for a nail-biting thriller. I DEFINITELY recommend checking out the content warnings before picking it up

Content Warnings

nelemon's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.5

Well, I guess now I know Taylor Adam‘s books are not for me. No Exit is loved by basically everybody, and I didn’t care for that one either (although I really liked the movie), but this one had good reviews and sounded interesting, so I gave it a chance.

And I will admit, I read it super quickly, so it is definitely a page turner and very suspenseful. You don’t have to wait for the action either, about 15% in we’re already in survival mode.

But too many situations and plot points were too conveniently unrealistic. I can definitely suspend my disbelief and just roll with a wild over the top thriller, but this didn’t work for me. The amount of twists 😂 It reminded me of Riley Sager‘s books, although I mostly enjoy those. I don’t know, it was just so chaotic and felt forced. The parts of the book that were written in draft novel form (“book within a book” style) didn’t really make sense in the end and to me just felt like a lazy way to alter the reader’s expectations.

The main character has a tragic event that happened in her past that is not entirely revealed until the final chapters. That event turned out to be super dark and kind of triggering to be honest. But since this is part of a twist reveal, I guess warning about that particular trigger would be a spoiler. I’ll still mention it down below because it made me really sad.

All in all, it’s an action packed survival thriller that definitely succeeds in regards to suspense and catching me off guard with some of the twists. But it also felt kind of forced and some of the situations were laughably convenient or wild. It was not for me.

⚠️SPOILER⚠️

trigger warnings: death of an infant

Content Warnings