Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

No Exit by Taylor Adams

80 reviews

melimar's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was enjoyable for the most part. The narrator did a great job. The main issue I had with this book is that several times, it seemed like the book was about to end and all of the plot lines were going to be resolved, but then I would look at the time left and there would be hours remaining and another twist would be added. It was ok one or two times, maybe even three, but this happened more than was necessary. It was very drawn out. There were some moments that seemed a little unrealistic. But as a thriller, overall, I enjoyed the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, Trafficking, Murder, and Violence

michelle_my_belle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

3.0

This was a very fast paced, action packed thriller. It leaned a little too far into horror for my tastes and contained a lot of graphic violence. I will say, it was a very compelling story and I continued reading wanting to find out what happened, so it was definitely successful in drawing me in and building suspense. Overall, it just wasn’t really for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Torture, Animal cruelty, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Ableism, Death, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Trafficking, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Cancer

cfarron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Addiction

Minor: Trafficking, Death of parent, and Vomit

mmarquis1158's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I was on the edge of my seat for the entire read. I never knew what to expect next which kept me engaged throughout. My only complaint is that there were a few scenes that felt a little unnecessary drawn out and I was anxious for it to just move along (ex: a really long and descriptive scene of running/chasing). Other than that, this was an exciting read. It was chilling, intriguing, and had me surprised all the way to the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Murder, Cursing, and Gore

Minor: Death of parent, Vomit, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, and Trafficking

danicampbell0506's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, and Torture

Moderate: Trafficking, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

gaby_readsss's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

I read The Last Word earlier this year and loved it, which made me excited to read more of Taylor Adams’ books.
No Exit, however was a bit of a letdown for me.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was very action-packed and I was on edge for the most part, which is a good thing when you’re reading a thriller. However, one thing I really struggled with was the writing. I found some parts to be very problematic. Were the racist slurs and misogynistic jokes really necessary? I get these “jokes” come from one of the villains in this book and we are meant to hate this character, but it made me uncomfortable and it also made question the author to be honest, which is kind of sad because I thought he was a new favorite thriller author when I read The Last Word.

So yeah, this wasn’t a terrible thriller. It had all the expected elements: a girl making irrational decisions, an isolated location, no phone signal, and people being killed by a psychopath. But I was expecting more.

I’m not sure I’ll read more books by this author in the future. 

 
I still don’t know how these people, Sandi, Ashley, and Lars knew each other? Unless I missed it I don’t think it ever gets explained. It was kind of hard to believe all of it and it became a little too much toward the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Torture, and Misogyny

Minor: Alcoholism and Vomit

buer's review against another edition

dark 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

Young college student, Darby Thorne, finds herself trapped at a rest stop on her way to say goodbye to her dying mother. After a strange series of events, Darby realizes that there is a kidnapped child in the back of one of the vehicles in the parking lot. She must figure out which of the four strangers at the rest stop is the killer and what she needs to do to save the kidnapped girl. 

I want to like this book - it’s fast-paced, easy to read, and has an overarching theme of a young woman realizing that she is a better, stronger, and more resilient person than she could have ever imagined. Taylor Adams has a simple, visceral writing style that I like and introduces several interesting twists. 

However. Much like one of the characters in this book, Adams feels like the kind of person who knows how to convincingly wear a mask. The mask he has chosen is that he’s the kind of person who believes that women are strong and capable, but considering that he sexualizes every female character in his book with varying degrees of brutality, I’m not convinced. 

I also find it difficult to enjoy a book in which the author goes out of his way to introduce prejudice into the story.  Taylor names an imaginary geographical landmark with a slur. He has a character tell multiple misogynistic jokes and a racist one that involves yet another slur. He uses the r-word and repeatedly references a probably homophobic piece of graffiti that he invented for the bathroom wall at the rest stop. 

Maybe I’m wrong about Taylor, but I can’t recommend this book in good conscience. There are too many moments that got under my skin for reasons that weren’t serving the plot or adding depth to characters.

There are plenty other books that accomplish what this book does without also reeking of ick. Read those instead. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Torture, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Animal death, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Cursing, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Addiction, Bullying, Ableism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Fire/Fire injury

aniwillow's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual violence, Blood, Gun violence, Confinement, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cursing, and Death of parent

Minor: Terminal illness, Excrement, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Grief, and Animal cruelty

rawrsoobin's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Trafficking, Gaslighting, and Ableism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Vomit, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Cancer, and Alcoholism

breeski's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow this lives up to the hype. Probably the best book I've read all year. This was a rollercoaster, I had to just stare at the ceiling for a while after finishing this. Definitely read trigger warnings, more gore than I was expecting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Gore, Torture, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Murder, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Bullying