Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

94 reviews

lovelymisanthrope's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I received this book as a gift.
"Behind Closed Doors" follows Grace, and her seemingly perfect husband, Jack. Grace and Jack seem to have it all and they live a very luxurious lifestyle. Their friends are all envious of them and their perfect marriage. Jack is a high-profile lawyer who never loses a case, and Grace is the picturesque homemaker. Unfortunately, things are never as good as they seem on the outside, and Grace and Jack are far from the perfect couple.
This story took me awhile to get into. I knew from the beginning that something was off, and I was very weary of Jack as a character, but it took a long time to finally piece together what was really going on, and what Jack's true motivations were. While I enjoyed the thrill of not truly knowing what was going on, once I did know, I was no longer invested in the story. Jack's behavior and actions towards Grace seemed plausible enough, but his true motivation for what he wanted and why he wanted it felt a little too unhinged to be believable.
Jack is absolutely insane, and the fact that he was able to hide that fact from everyone in his life is kind of impressive. I feel like someone who exhibits these types of behaviors for that long would have slipped up somewhere and had someone asking questions.
I was slightly disappointed in Grace as a character. I felt like she was broken too easily, and with so much at stake, she could have continued to fight harder. I empathize that she was in a difficult situation, but I kept yelling "come on" through the pages.
Overall, this book did not feel 100% believable in any aspect. There were too many plot points that relied on characters accepting what they were told without question. A thriller does not need to be believable to be good, but for me it definitely helps to make it more thrilling.
Overall, this story was fine. I had an okay time reading it, and I probably will not think about it much in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Murder, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Grief, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

rylee_marcoux's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Stalking, Animal death, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Violence, and Toxic relationship

poopyanna's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Drug abuse, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Physical abuse

Minor: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Suicide, and Infidelity

siareads's review

3.25

Felt like a lot of loose ends weren’t tied up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

kdaniels's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement

yayitsk's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

This was honestly a hard one to get through - spent a HUGE portion of the book detailing the type of abuse the main character was experiencing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse

lucykae's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Murder, Suicide, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Mental illness, and Misogyny

missgrangerr's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.0

I read this book in a day, I had to get to the ending and find out how this played out. I have to say throughout I struggled with the main character; I found her annoying at times, especially when she is recalling Spoiler the times she attempted to escape from her husband. She kept saying how he couldn't break her yet the whole story seems she was broken already. I also found the premise of why he married her in the first place to be absurd. I thought the relationship between the two would be a more realistic depiction of domestic abuse, however this was more sinister than the typical case. He was an outright psychopath who was obsessed with torture, oppose to just a possessive or controlling person. Which is what kept me from giving it 4 stars. Overall not a bad read, but I thought the book was going to be a little more realistic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Physical abuse

dlajoie's review

challenging dark sad 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? No

1.0

I love a good nasty thriller, but this book made me nauseous. Trigger warnings are not enough here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Child abuse and Animal cruelty

ernis's review

I enjoy thrillers, but this book was too disturbing for me. On a side note, I did skim the ending, it felt like there weren't any twists from where I'd stopped to where I picked up near the end.

Overall the fear that an underage and vulnerable person was at risk of being tormented, assaulted, imprisoned, starved, and much worse made me feel gross.

Yes thrillers may contain some dark details but this novel was way past my point of comfort. I would not feel comfortable recommending this book to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Animal death, and Child abuse

Minor: Eating disorder and Forced institutionalization