Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins

24 reviews

paigestilwill's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.5

A Slow Fire Burning combines all the things one might love about a murder mystery—suspense, shifting perspectives, red herrings and their explanations. I thought the character development was well done, the plot hummed along but never divulged too much at once. 

The death of Ben and the depiction from Daniel’s perspective was a bit difficult to face, though I venture that was the point. Just a fair warning to any moms of toddlers—you may want to sit this one out. 

My only slight hang up with this one was the build up to Jeremy’s reveal—Miriam’s history was perhaps the most interesting to me—the resolution to which felt deflated and hurried compared to the other storylines that tied things up more assuredly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Infidelity, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Miscarriage

hcumbie's review

dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

Not Paula Hawkins best work-the time-line was a little confusing and the ending was just ok. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcoholism

ofpagesandparagraphs's review

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Medical content, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, and Car accident

corvicore's review

dark mysterious sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Medical content, Car accident, Mental illness, Animal death, Fatphobia, Incest, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Stalking, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexism

meliemelo's review

dark 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? Yes

2.75

 Crime novels aren't known for their boundless optimism, but this one seemed especially bleak. While crafting very nuanced characters, Paula Hawkins did not care for making them likeable with the exception of Irene and, to a point, Laura. The "One who got away" chapters were an interesting enough idea but ended up being a bit repetitive and didn't bring much to the book in the end (and the end of that particular thread had me roll my eyes). Finally, I felt the book lacked tension and purpose beyond the "whodunnit", and even that didn't keep my interest up much.

It's not a bad crime novel, and there were definitely some very good ideas in there, but it definitely doesn't compare to the author's previous works. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child death, Car accident, Death, Dementia, Violence, Alcoholism, Incest, Kidnapping, Grief, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Body shaming, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual assault, Cursing, Infidelity, Rape, Miscarriage, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death of parent

risemini's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Self harm, Car accident, Death, Drug use, Incest, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, and Sexual assault

al_moose's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

The audiobook was narrated beautifully. If you're into them and want to read this book, I would recommend.

It felt like the author didn't know how to create an emotional backstory without a death. Every single character (except one who only had a near death experience) has some sort of tragic death in their backstory. And that's really the majority of character backstory in the whole book.

I couldn't get behind any of the characters. They all did something at some point to piss me off. Oh and absolutely f*ck Carla, I thought how she acted at the end was pathetic.

I also saw pretty much all the twists coming, which was disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Incest

nadias_littlelibrary's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Sexual harassment, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexism

Minor: Animal death

thefictionalhevschwar's review against another edition

funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, and Rape

kriz01ws6's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Violence, Murder, Child death, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Grief, Abandonment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Animal death, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Incest, and Injury/Injury detail