Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

12 reviews

wibookbadger's review

dark mysterious sad medium-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

4.0

I've heard many people say this book is hard to follow but I didn't experience that. I found myself transported into the story of these women and I enjoyed the process of unraveling the mystery. I will be reading more from this author when I get the chance!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Rape

Minor: Suicide

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

eshiltonn's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Murder, and Death

mabelstulips's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, and Death of parent

livjcarver's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

the book is split into 4 parts, with the first two being extremely slow and heavy on setting up the plot. there’s too many perspectives for my liking, switching between almost everyone in the small town and not really getting to know any in-depth. however, the last two parts had me hooked. much more fast paced, if you tried to guess the ending you were rethinking it all. having read previously a slow fire burning by the same author, it felt like that was a more refined version of this, like into the water was a practice run for a later book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Adult/minor relationship

cindas_books's review

emotional informative mysterious reflective relaxing tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Blood, Alcohol, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

carleneb's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Firstly I have to say this book is very dark in terms of the range of topics it covers. Check these before reading. However it isn't graphic apart from one occasion. 
I can't rate this highly enough. I was lucky enough to listen to the audio version for free from my library.
The book switches between many main characters so it can take a while to get your head around but well worth it. One of the best books I've read in a long time!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Murder, Domestic abuse, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Blood

Minor: Drug use and Alcoholism

acchristopher14's review

dark emotional slow-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? Yes

3.25

This book felt incredibly slow for a thriller and the ending felt anticlimactic. There were scenes that I was completely enthralled by but some of the characters felt too fake/flat.

for example, Patrick was painted as super evil and so he acted misogynistic and overly aggressive constantly to the point that he was excited to discuss his wife’s murder and cut his son to keep him from talking?

in all, it was a fun read but it fell a little flat 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

alicialoebl's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Large cast of characters was a little confusing at first but the story had a lot of twists and turns and kept you guessing until the end, I like the relation of the river and "difficult women" 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, Infidelity, Grief, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Body shaming