Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Last Word by Taylor Adams

98 reviews

gabyspinktasticlibrary's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

chasingpages1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

bibliochica's review against another edition

dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Stalking

caidyn's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

I read this almost in one sitting. I wish I had been able to do that because it's a book that benefits from that. A very good, quick mystery, but I don't feel a need to keep it for a reread.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Stalking

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

 Another book I'm torn on rating. Some parts I found predictable and some parts irritating, but overall it was fairly well-written and entertaining. 
Mostly I found the male-narrated parts to be annoying but insightful. I think part of it was the narrator's voice, and the character himself to be annoying, but I think he was sort of modeled after INCELs. 
Whereas Emma's parts are more palatable. I took her POV to be more reliable, as some things were told from both POVs but the spin of the character.
I didn't expect the final twist with Emma and what had happened in her life prior to the beach.
Overall it was a pretty good book. And I'm so glad that Laika survived! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying and Infertility

kimveach's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This wasn't the book for me.  The first part took too long and was the set-up for any horror movie.  The author did this intentionally to make fun of the "defenseless woman alone" trope.  But I've never liked that sort of book or movie, and it didn't work for me.  If you like horror films, you'll probably like this book.  The rest of the book was clever, but it was too little too late.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

4.5

 Finished reading: August 7th 2023

"Coincidences are fine in real life. But in fiction, they're bad writing."

I’ve been meaning to try his books for years now, and of course there was no way that I was going to resist the blurb of The Last Word for long. I love books with bookish angles, and what is more fascinating AND terrifying than a thriller read where an author slash killer goes after a person leaving him a one star review? And while things can be said about the plot being over the top and you definitely have to suspend your belief, I personally didn’t care because I was too busy enjoying the ride. This was exactly the dark, twisted and exhilarating read I needed! There is just something about the writing style that makes it very easy to fly through the pages, and the plot itself only increases that pace. The POVs are somehow blurred in points, and at times it takes a second before you realize who is in the spotlight; this would usually highly annoy me, but somehow in The Last Word it only added to the suspense. There are plenty of twists along the way as well, and with (at times) two contrasting POVs telling how the events happened it makes you wonder what is the real version. Again, this is usually something that would bother me, but in this case it somehow worked. Even the characters: none of them are exactly likeable, but since the main focus is on the plot and the life or death situation it's not as important. The Last Word definitely tips its toe in the horror genre though, and warnings are in place for particularly gruesome and graphic scenes as well as animal cruelty. If you think you can stomach those and like your thrillers on the dark and twisted side, I can highly recommend this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

crbowman's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A challenging book for me.  I wasn't aware from the book jacket that animals would be involved.  I also agree with another review the book could have been less than 300 pages.  I felt the last 100 pages went slow and repetitive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Grief

Minor: Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

icieri's review against another edition

medium-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Murder

janbee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting