Reviews tagging 'Child death'

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

69 reviews

readsafterdark's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Murder

calilypso's review

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-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

4.25

Excellent read, crossing the lines of justice versus right. Deep, invested character development.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Violence, Abortion, and Death of parent

secretgardensbooks's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

taranottahra's review

It was moving so so so slow. It was dark, which is fine, but there’s a lot of darkness currently happening in the real world around me (LA fires, Trump presidency) and it was not the escapism I needed. The writing was fine, but going back to it felt like a work-out regime instead of something I was looking forward to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

kristenmgunter's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Abortion

undersea's review

challenging dark funny sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

I enjoyed the story and the scope of this book. I enjoy stories with this type of sweeping timeline & interesting characters with some mystery involved. That said, I have issues. 

First of all the writing style never really clicked with me, though I did get used to it over 600 pages 🙄 The short chapters are helpful but there are detailed, luxurious descriptions of landscapes & then key plot elements

like Saint’s pregnancy & labor

that are literally skipped over in order to create a “twist” later on.  Cliff hangers are really done a disservice to the momentum, leaving one character’s story line hanging for “anticipation” only to have it kind of glazed over and summarized when we finally come back to it. 

Also, possibly because of the writing style or the length, when new mysteries would pop up I would literally sigh. I was just tired. It felt emotionally manipulative. 

I will say, the chosen family that is built in this book is truly wonderful. It might be what kept me going most through 600 pages of Patch. 

Are we supposed to like Patch? I feel empathy for him for sure, but the entire book is basically saying: let men act however they need to act, support them no matter what, do the actual work of hunting down a serial killer while he paints & searches backwards for victims families instead of trying to prevent more people from becoming victims, & because of that ladies, you’ll get all the love & thanks you deserve which is none. Literally every woman in this story is there in support of Patch & he gives them nothing. Saint & Misty & Norma & Charlotte & even Sammy are so amazing & interesting, but we are only treated to them as they relate to and support Patch with this undying, unending support. That is never, not once returned. Unless you count killing which just takes Patch further from them.

This is why I don’t read male authors much😒

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, and Abortion

reckenreiter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

A thriller/ mystery that isn’t formulaic! A unique story with lots of detail and heart. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

julierreads's review

challenging reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.0

500 of the 582 pages are utter drawn out nonsense. A modern day Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye, whom I despised in high school and still do all these years later. I can’t tell you how many times I rolled my eyes, or said WTF out loud. But those last few pages? Worth the finish. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Drug abuse and Suicide

bookworm_by_blood's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.0

Very long winded and confusing at time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Incest

vicreads24's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.5

This book hooked me at the beginning, I was very invested in the characters throughout the story. However, the pacing lost me a bit in the middle. I think this book could have been shorter and I would have enjoyed it more. It just felt like the same thing was repeating for a while, which made it more difficult to get through. I think Chris Whitaker’s writing is great, and I’m willing to check out more of his work. He did a great job with creating complex characters and including themes of friendship, found family, and recovery from trauma. He also does a great job of putting multiple twists throughout to keep the reader invested, this is what made me push through the slow middle part. Overall, I would still recommend, especially if you’re someone who’s into true crime/mysteries. Also check trigger warnings as there are some heavy topics discussed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Death of parent, and Pregnancy