Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

93 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

1.75

Context: I wish I could remember the review that made me want to read this, I thought it was going to be more mystery and less thriller. 

 

TLDR:  I got hung-up on the foster care stuff, your mileage may vary. 

 

The plotting was pretty tight for the most part with a few plot holes that didn’t matter very much. The central mystery was interesting and fresh. Most plot twists were a surprise. 

 

My main problem came with the characterisation. The foster care system does heavy lifting in explaining Jess and Ben. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if there weren’t some important plot points that for someone somewhat familiar with the system are just plain unbelievable. I don’t know how much experience Ms Foley has had with the system but she might have benefited from an experienced beta reader.It’s rather like a non-Roma writer with a main character who is Roma and not having some Roma readers to advise them on Roma life. Just saying, “oh, they were in foster care so they are like this” is lazy. 

 

The ending felt like Ms Foley found her deadline approaching and her editor wanted a happy ending for all rewrite. Anyone surviving foster care could tell you that there never is a happy ending for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Child abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Bullying, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, and Suicide

the foster care system

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

1.25

...Yet another thriller that I did not enjoy.  It was filled with characters that had one main facet which was being awful.  Would not recommend.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Police brutality, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Violence, Vomit, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexism, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infertility, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, and Suicide

chelle22's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Violence, Abandonment, Deportation, Sexual content, Suicide, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Stalking

emoxxecologist's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

This book was pretty crazy and suspenseful throughout, up to the end. 

Jess goes to see her brother in Paris, but when she gets there, he’s nowhere to be found. Starting off, I know something isn’t right about this. Throughout the story we are given clues to what may have happened to Ben and who might be responsible through different character POVs, all of whom are living in this complex. One by one, their flaws and motives begin to surface as Jess is poking around and asking questions about Ben. But it turns out that none of them can be trusted. 

I probably blew through this one way too quick, but it was really good. I love a good thriller/mystery, and this one ticked all of my boxes. The plot wasn’t obvious even though there were clues- I wasn’t sure who was responsible for Ben’s disappearance up until the end. The illicit activities of some of the characters weren’t a surprise because that is a plot device in so many books now. The human trafficking is unfortunately common in all countries in modern times, but how it links back some of the women in the book was unexpected. Foley did a great job of bringing everything full circle and wrapping it up for us with a neat little bow at the end. 

Question- Am I the only one thinking that Ben was dead the whole time? I swore at the end they were going to find a dead body up in that attic! I did not expect him to be alive!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexism, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Stalking and Rape

kelskadams's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Minor: Addiction, Blood, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Murder, Suicide, and Death of parent

duwella's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Mental illness, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Blood, Sexual assault, Rape, and Suicide

readingtotravel's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Sexual content

Minor: Bullying

anilourengo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

We follow Jess, who left her life in England to live with her brother Ben in Paris. When she arrives to Ben's apartment in Paris, she notices he disappeared, he isn't returning her calls and left the apartment without his wallet. So, she is convinced that something happened to her brother, and she won't stop until find what it was and where he is. She must start on his brother building, which seems to be full of weirdos. 

Unfortunately, is full of French bias, not because they are French are all promiscuous or are sexually driven... Mixing mystery with sexual content was definitely not my ally. With a big variety of personalities, I imagine a murder and identify the killer from the beginning, so most of the time I was really confused with all the sexual content, that for me was not necessary at all... Nevertheless, I didn't expect the twist at the end... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Blood, Alcoholism, Murder, Drug use, and Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Death of parent, Infertility, Infidelity, Confinement, and Miscarriage

Minor: Self harm, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

suchallie's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.5

Overall a good read, different from the other two I’ve read by this author. The structure was interesting. The twists and turns often outed themselves just before they happened and it picked up far too much in the last 40 pages compared to the slow burn of the rest of the book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Infidelity, Alcohol, Murder, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, Blood, Alcoholism, and Addiction

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Police brutality, Vomit, and Classism

Minor: Suicide and Domestic abuse

kiwichill's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

Many twists and turns which kept me in suspense.  The audiobook is narrated by different people for each character which enhances the experience 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Racism, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Alcohol, Cursing, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Domestic abuse, Outing, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Alcoholism, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexism, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Vomit, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Excrement, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts