Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

What Have We Done by Alex Finlay

10 reviews

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Honestly I didn’t really care for this book.  I couldn’t get into the plot and I just overall didn’t like the characters all that much.

Spice Level: n/a

POV: Multiple, Third Person

Release Date: 07, March 2023

Rep: n/a

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Police brutality, Murder, Addiction, Bullying, Abandonment, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Torture, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Murder, Addiction, Trafficking, Child death, and Cursing

Minor: Toxic relationship, Car accident, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Racism, and Terminal illness

teatunesandtales's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Death, Abandonment, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Blood, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Car accident, and Confinement

ksamaine95's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Great intro into Alex Finlay. Almost too many odd twists for me. But well played. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Addiction, Stalking, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Bullying, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

motherofbears's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Not what I expected but the pacing is pretty great and the mystery worked well. Solid. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Police brutality

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Alcohol

spaghettii's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Addiction, Alcohol, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Violence, Alcoholism, Car accident, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Torture, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, and Gore

mrspelladvm's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Sexual violence

amobrien's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This is a fast-paced multi-POV thriller and while it is certainly entertaining, I found the characters to be a little hard to believe. They all seemed to have interesting individual lives and I feel like they had so much potential, but they were written one-dimensionally. My favorite perspective to read from was Jenna as we were able to see a bit more from her than the other characters, next was Donnie and last was Nico. If you love a good action story with some mystery, you might really enjoy this, but I prefer more character development in my stories so I found this to be lacking at times.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gun violence, and Addiction

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual violence

goatsrsexy's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

This book was a wild ride! It's definitely the type of story that keeps you up all night reading because you just have to see what happens next. It has multiple POVS and short chapters which is a combination I really like specifically for this genre (thriller) The juxtaposition in this book between some very dark and serious subjects and almost cartoon like villains/ action Scenes shouldn't work and yet it does. There were a few scenes where thought to myself "okay this is too much this is silly" but I was still extremely riveted so guess it wasn't too much. The ending of this book is so sad and melancholy in a brilliant way. I definitely recommend this for a quick read. There's nothing super graphic but l'd still look up trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gun violence

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

Minor: Sexual violence

kaylasbookgram's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

What Have We Done follows Jenna, Nico, and Donnie as they try to figure out who is trying to kill them and why. They are all linked by meeting at a group home at teens and one big mistake that was made 25 years ago. Will their secret come to light or will they be able to keep the past in the past. 

This was my first book by Alex Finlay and I enjoyed it. The beginning was a bit confusing to me but once you got through the 3 POVs a few times things began to line up and make sense. This is a great who dun it mystery thriller. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, Torture, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Addiction, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, and Violence

rainbowbean's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

I received this as an eARC from NetGalley and St. Martins Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you both for this opportunity! <b>There are no ending spoilers in this review.</b>

I gave this 4.5⭐'s. Rounded up to 5 on Goodreads since they do not allow partial stars like Storygraph does. This was a fast paced excellent mystery.

<b>+1⭐ Writing:</b>

I found the chapters and writing both to flow together well. There's a lot to take in here and the author did a good job of weaving the story without being repetitive or infodumping. Language reads real and current. 

<b>+1⭐ World Building:</b>

Excellent job of modern world building and showing not telling. Easy to place myself in the middle of this. Accurately describes the DMV area. lol.

<b>+1⭐ Plot:</b>

Excellent mystery with a very unique and intriguing story. 

<b>-.25⭐Plot Hole</b> I was just slightly bothered by the lack of explanation surrounding the disappearance of the person killed in the past and also the whereabouts of the person nextdoor. It didn't ring n the story for me, just felt like that piece was missing. 

<b>Plot Twists:</b>

I feel like I saw it coming, however there was enough to make me wonder if the twist would happen so I was still surprised.

<b>+1⭐ Character Development:</b>

Told from multiple POV's and I was here for every one of them. I wanted to put the pieces together so bad. Every chapter the characters' back and current story get even deeper. The character with the writer following him was a clever way to tell the backstory. 

I enjoyed getting to know each of them.

<b>-.25⭐ Representation:</b>

A good bit of representation here across several groups. I really could have done without the slurs though. They were unnecessary and lost star points because of that.

<b>+.5⭐Pace:</b>

Full speed ahead this was a rapidly moving story I could not stop. It was so good I finished it the day I started it. 

<b>Ending:</b>

Great and tidy but not annoying ending. I liked it.

<b>Overall:</b>

This could be adapted into an excellent mini series. I would watch it for sure. I would recommend reading and buying this. I would be interested in other works by this author. 

<i>(As always to be fair: I am extremely picky about purchasing books for my limited shelf space and choose 4-5 stars from my personal ratings and only if I love it, want my children to read some day, or want to re-read.) </i>

<b>Trigger Warnings:</b>

LGBTQIA+ Slurs

Human Trafficking 

Rape

Child Abuse

Torture/Violence 

<b>EDITING FEEDBACK:</b> <i> Does not affect my rating as this is an eARC that clearly states it is still in the copyedit process.</i>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Addiction, Torture, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Gun violence, Child death, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship