Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Saknar dig by Harlan Coben

5 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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

3.0

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed Tell No One and wanted to read more of Harlan Coben’s work. This one was in Waterstones in a buy one gets one half price, and I saw that this was being made into a TV show with Netflix so figured it was worth a read, however I was just bored. 

This book is based on NYPD Detective Kat Donovan and when her best friends decide to sign her up for a dating website, she doesn’t think anything of it, until she stumbles across a profile that she recognizes, and she feels her whole world explode, as emotions she’s ignored for decades come rushing to the surface. Staring back at her is her ex-fiancé Jeff, the man who shattered her heart and who she hasn’t seen in 18 years. Kat feels a spark, wondering if this might be the moment when past tragedies recede, and a new world opens to her. But when she reaches out to the man in the profile, her reawakened hope quickly darkens into suspicion and then terror as an unspeakable conspiracy comes to light, in which monsters prey upon the most vulnerable. As the body count counts and Kat’s hope for a second chance with Jeff grows more and more elusive, she is consumed by an investigation that challenges her feelings about everyone she ever loved – her former fiancé, her mother, and even her father, whose cruel murder so long ago has never been fully explained. With lives on the line, including her own, Kat must venture deeper into the darkness than she ever has before, and discover if she has the strength to survive what she finds there. 

I liked Kat and was rooting for her the whole way. I had so many questions on the history but I was more hooked by Brandon finding her and asking questions because he was concerned about his mother. I would have loved for this to be dual POV and how Brandon finds out this information about Kat and his own investigation. I liked that we got an answer by the end of the book because I thought we were going to finish this book without finding out who killed Kat’s father. I didn’t mind the storyline and that there was a start and a finish, and the story flowed. 

Unlike Tell No One, I wasn’t hooked from page one, it took a while for the storyline and the action to kick in and it sort of dropped in the middle and towards the end which is where I think the dual POV for Brandon would have made it better. Plus, we didn’t know who Titan was, was he known to the police? Did the gangbanger know him? What happened to him? I felt like I was left with more questions than answers especially with the big reveal, what happened after that? We have no clue it ended there.  

I don’t think this was the best of Harlan’s work, but this is what happens when the first book you read of an author is five stars and then you expect every book of theirs to be five stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Alcohol

kellyreadsbooks99's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Transphobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Alcohol

myweeksareallbooked's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

miarae's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this book, and I am looking forward to reading more by this writer. The plot isn't one I would usually go for, it's definitely different than what the blurb on the back suggests, but I enjoyed reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape

rads_thereader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

4.0

I was told to expect the unexpected and that nothing was as it seemed with this book. They were right. Halfway through the book, any theories I had were out the window. Each twist and turn was surprising in its own right, wrapped in an amazingly gripping story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Alcohol