Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

3 reviews

mr_cain's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

I only docked .25 of a star because the pacing was so slow in the exposition. I understand she's establishing a whole host of characters and I do appreciate it, but it's a book you have to power through the first part of. 

This book genuinely kept me guessing. I did suspect the real culprit several times, but I waffled often. Hawkins does a great job supplying motive and details for each of the suspects without it feeling like a painfully deliberate red herring. 

Hawkins also makes the characters each their own and her style is distinct for each chapter in a different POV (i.e. Helen, Jules, + Sean's chapters all feel genuine vs. the same style with different names as many POV switching books seem to do). She provides a cast of characters who are complex and feel so real. Not every character is deeply complicated but they all have their own established psyches which I loved. 

I can easily call myself a Paula Hawkins fan after this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Bullying, Body shaming, Infidelity, Rape, Fatphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Blood

Minor: Vomit, Eating disorder, and Chronic illness

cheye13's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

I was intrigued by a premise that didn't pay off. I find a lotta mystery/thrillers lean on the drama of people hating each other or simply being terrible for no reason, and that's precisely all this is. Everyone hated each other throughout this book and I have no clue why. The drama of the drowning pool was barely skimmed and the ending was not only unsatisfying, but also pointless. I do like a small town interwoven with drama, and I don't mind unlikeable characters, but as everyone was horrible for seemingly no reason, this was ultimately just an annoyance to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Gaslighting, Infidelity, Sexism, Cursing, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, and Physical abuse

rape is not depicted on-page, but before and after is extensively detailed; many detailed scenes involve drowning

angelafeng's review

dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Murder, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Animal death, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Rape, Cursing, Bullying, Body shaming, and Pedophilia

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Eating disorder, Cancer, and Suicide attempt