Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier

10 reviews

pkprouvs's review

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment

Moderate: Transphobia and Pedophilia

Minor: Racism and Homophobia

traa's review against another edition

dark 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Transphobia, Vomit, Excrement, Infidelity, Alcohol, Cancer, Abortion, Physical abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Police brutality, and Alcoholism

Minor: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Fatphobia

neverlandpages4's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

• This is an older thriller that’s been resurfacing lately because the audiobook was recently released and it had a lot of good reviews so I picked it up because it’s by one of my favorite thriller authors!! I kind of wish I listened to the audiobook because this was pretty slow compared to the other books I’ve read by Jennifer Hillier.

• I was immediately hooked and intrigued because a lot is going on and I loved how this is more investigative. We’re following Vanessa, a deputy chief officer that’s trying to solve the mystery of the missing person.

• This is mainly set at a theme park in a shady small town and the writing perfectly captured the eerie feeling. I felt for the characters that were trying to leave the town and leave behind all the negative energy it has.

• I loved Vanessa and how determined she is to bring justice to the victims and didn’t let anyone, especially the men, tell her what she could or couldn’t do.

• The ending was not my favorite which is why this is a 4⭐️. The first 90% of the book was pretty slow and calculated, a lot was going on and there are a ton of characters introduced. And then the last 10%, everything felt rushed and I felt like there were some loose ends and unanswered questions. The killer was also a bit predictable but I still felt bad for Vanessa when she had to find out.

• By the end of the book, I wasn’t sure whose side I’m on. The characters that I was rooting for turned out to have done questionable things and some of them weren’t brought to justice and I didn’t like how they didn’t get charged for their crimes.

• Check trigger warnings if you’re planning on reading this, it’s pretty heavy with topics like SA and adult-minor relationships.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Gore, Blood, Body horror, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Homophobia, Abortion, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

nerdyprettythings's review

dark mysterious reflective

4.0

I really enjoyed this! It's being rereleased on audio after being published as an ebook 8 years ago, and I think the narrator did a great job with it. There's a lot of back and forth between a mysterious, dank space and the bright sunlight of an amusement park-centered town, and those moods are both handled really well by the narrator. I kind of wish the author had taken a swing at some edits before this re-release, but I still had a good time with it. Maybe horror-y thrillers set in amusement parks are my new thing? This book could definitely have used more time in the park imo. I kept hoping for flashbacks to the park in the old days, because it was noted several times that the MC worked there as a kid. I did love the way this book leaned into that "is everyone who works here creepy?" feeling and how unsettling the uncanny nature of an amusement park can be, even to those who love them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment and Kidnapping

kristen_mk's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

 The atmosphere of this book was fantastic and the audiobook was great! I thought the narrator did a good job and loved that the audiobook opened with creepy theme park music to really set the mood. Amusement Parks at night with seemingly no one there is always going to be eerie. Especially this theme park, since Wonderland had a rumored dark history. I loved that Jennifer Hillier leaned into this Amusement Park having creepy attractions and a Fright Fest for Halloween. If you are someone that loves a crime thriller with a cop protagonist, this would be right up your alley. While I enjoyed this, I wish it leaned more into the darkness. I felt like we spent a little too much time with Vanessa, the cop protagonist. I would have preferred spending more time in the perspective of the morally corrupt CEO of Wonderland. However, I will be checking out more of Jennifer Hillier's other books as I did love her writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment

tysbooks's review

dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

This was not what I was expecting at all. We follow the new chief deputy of Seaside PD, Vanessa, who is investigating the appearance of a dead body at Wonderland. This amusement park is the money maker for this small town and any bad publicity could detrimental. As Vanessa digs deeper into this case, she uncovers that boys have been going missing and slowly discovers some disturbing details about Wonderland.

I can see why some people might not like this book and I think having the right expectations going into this will help with the experience of the story. The cover would suggest there might be some horror elements and this being set at an amusement park, one would think the story would take place primarily at the park. That is not the case. This is a police investigation around missing boys and the park comes into play becomes most of the characters work at the park. I really enjoyed learning about the conspiracy of the park and the secrets of some of the characters and all of the cover ups that had been done to protect the reputation of the park and therefore the town. However, I wished we could have spent more time at Wonderland and more time with the characters there. I also felt sort of dissatisfied with the ending. After some of the reveals, it left me with more questions than answers and it would have been nice to get a resolution. I wasn’t disappointed by this, but I did expect a little bit more going into it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual harassment

covublitz's review

dark mysterious 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

2.0

ICK. I like the general idea of this book (

serial killer in a theme park

), but omg. 
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The trigger warning list for this book is a mile long (it would have been shorter to select what’s NOT in it), and it is WILDLY problematic. Characters are horribly unlikeable and should certainly all be in prison. The casual homophobia and transphobia are disgusting, as is the graphic and frequent pedophilia . Main character runs around with a victim mentality when she’s one of the worst of the bunch. Honestly, if they had all died I would have cheered. 
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Two stars only because I couldn’t figure out the killer right away (

thought it was going to be the original park owner/child molester and faked his death in the fire so he could continue to kidnap teenage boys and lock them in the sex dungeon he built under the park — nope. Turned out to be an incel revenge plot because the new sexual predator/CEO had rejected this dude when he got too old to be her type, so he kidnapped all the people that aged out of her abuse, put them in the OG sex dungeon because they weren’t good enough for her anyway, and murdered them when he ran out of space and needed to go grab someone else.

).
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Picked it up for a horror/thriller bookclub. Hate-read my way through it, then took a really long, hot shower to get the ick off my skin. This book sticks with you, and not in a good way.  Do not recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Rape, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Mental illness, Confinement, Pedophilia, Stalking, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Gun violence, Torture, and Homophobia

Minor: Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Transphobia

sierrainstitches's review

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

2.75

I did not like it. I forced myself to finish it. I didn’t like any of the characters, or their multitude of flaws. They felt underdeveloped. There were HUGE issues that were just like… mentioned casually. Oz is a TERF. All just very not great. I was excited for this after reading reviews, but it did not hold up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Sexual content

mysterymom40's review

dark mysterious 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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Murder, and Confinement

Moderate: Kidnapping, Gore, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Cursing, Blood, and Torture

Minor: Gun violence, Grief, Domestic abuse, and Excrement

scene with a rat; body found with eaten off face; clowns mentioned; creepy doll; graphic sex scenes; female having toxic, sexual relationships with young men

fbzcab's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Blood, Confinement, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Transphobia