Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

93 reviews

rensach's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Murder

Minor: Drug abuse

ciwanski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

I honestly really enjoyed this read. The mystery was masterfully put together, I’m honestly not sure how Turton kept track of it all. 
This was the perfect moody read to start autumn off with; rainy days, dark forests, decrepit manors, 1920s aesthetic, I was immediately immersed into the grungy feel of this book. 
I will admit that I’m a little let down by the ending. I’m not sure what I’m let down by, but I feel a sense of wanting more. Again, the mystery aspect was wonderful, but it’s the world building around it that I think I’m a bit put out by. Questions about how the in-book “real world” functions that are never really answered.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Alcohol, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Torture

throwback682's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

This was a really surprising and fascinating concept. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Suicide, Body shaming, Murder, Child death, Confinement, Death, and Fatphobia

Oh my God the fatphobia about Ravenscourt was BEYOND EGREGIOUS. I almost DNF’d over it. I wish the author would put out a revised edition without all that garbage. He explained the experience of suddenly

being in an elderly body well and without denigrating elderly people. He could’ve easily done the same with a fat body.

Yes we get it you’re disgusted by fat people, Jesus Christ let’s keep it moving. I legit took off 1.5 stars just for that. Great book otherwise.

cheye13's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

2.0

The first half of this felt like a very promising murder mystery with a little supernatural twist. It initially seemed that the main character would get over the "rules" and piece together clues over the course of the book. Unfortunately, the back half dropped the ball. The supernatural stuff took over and pieces of the mystery(s) were either dropped, glossed over, or tied up way too conveniently. The premise was promising, but this story tried to hard to be both genres, instead of picking one main one and sprinkling the second genre for flavor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Medical content, Stalking, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Kidnapping, Addiction, and Drug abuse

the fatphobia is egregious; it's my reading that it's internalized fatphobia, as it's contained to the chapters in which the main character inhabits the fat persona, intended to exemplify the effect the different hosts' personalities have on the main character, but is still very tactlessly written, and is sustained through a significant portion of the book.

lori_j's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Child death, and Alcohol

oz2021's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Child death

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Suicide, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Gaslighting, Bullying, Child death, Fatphobia, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Confinement, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Grief, Medical content, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Drug use, and Sexual assault

fadeddpages's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual assault

amartin48's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Drug abuse, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Body horror, Classism, Death, Blood, Bullying, Alcohol, Murder, Child death, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

lisaarnsdorf's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.0

This was an unusual story. It was very readable and, except for the first few chapters, moved right along. It kept me thinking and engaged.

However, it was overly complicated. There were too many details to keep track of, too many jumps in the timeline, too many characters, too many twists and reveals. The story needed some serious editing and simplifying to make it truly great. There was a character whose sole purpose in the book seemed to be for gratuitous violence that isn't even in keeping with 1920s sensibility of the story; I didn't need that at all.

When the bigger picture is finally revealed, it feels like you've been dropped into an entirely different story. (Inception, anyone?) The main motivation for being at Blackheath is almost disorienting, not a fully fleshed-out story, and frankly, not even believable. And I just didn't like the ending. If there was a spot where we could have used more, the ending was it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gore

Minor: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Drug use