Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

No Exit by Taylor Adams

104 reviews

melimar's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book was enjoyable for the most part. The narrator did a great job. The main issue I had with this book is that several times, it seemed like the book was about to end and all of the plot lines were going to be resolved, but then I would look at the time left and there would be hours remaining and another twist would be added. It was ok one or two times, maybe even three, but this happened more than was necessary. It was very drawn out. There were some moments that seemed a little unrealistic. But as a thriller, overall, I enjoyed the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, Trafficking, Murder, and Violence

michelle_my_belle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

This was a very fast paced, action packed thriller. It leaned a little too far into horror for my tastes and contained a lot of graphic violence. I will say, it was a very compelling story and I continued reading wanting to find out what happened, so it was definitely successful in drawing me in and building suspense. Overall, it just wasn’t really for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Torture, Animal cruelty, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Ableism, Death, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Trafficking, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Cancer

cfarron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Addiction

Minor: Trafficking, Death of parent, and Vomit

michaelawatkins's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Torture, Murder, Death, Gun violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Chronic illness

Minor: Addiction, Death of parent, and Alcohol

buer's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

Young college student, Darby Thorne, finds herself trapped at a rest stop on her way to say goodbye to her dying mother. After a strange series of events, Darby realizes that there is a kidnapped child in the back of one of the vehicles in the parking lot. She must figure out which of the four strangers at the rest stop is the killer and what she needs to do to save the kidnapped girl. 

I want to like this book - it’s fast-paced, easy to read, and has an overarching theme of a young woman realizing that she is a better, stronger, and more resilient person than she could have ever imagined. Taylor Adams has a simple, visceral writing style that I like and introduces several interesting twists. 

However. Much like one of the characters in this book, Adams feels like the kind of person who knows how to convincingly wear a mask. The mask he has chosen is that he’s the kind of person who believes that women are strong and capable, but considering that he sexualizes every female character in his book with varying degrees of brutality, I’m not convinced. 

I also find it difficult to enjoy a book in which the author goes out of his way to introduce prejudice into the story.  Taylor names an imaginary geographical landmark with a slur. He has a character tell multiple misogynistic jokes and a racist one that involves yet another slur. He uses the r-word and repeatedly references a probably homophobic piece of graffiti that he invented for the bathroom wall at the rest stop. 

Maybe I’m wrong about Taylor, but I can’t recommend this book in good conscience. There are too many moments that got under my skin for reasons that weren’t serving the plot or adding depth to characters.

There are plenty other books that accomplish what this book does without also reeking of ick. Read those instead. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Torture, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Animal death, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Cursing, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Addiction, Bullying, Ableism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Fire/Fire injury

rawrsoobin's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Trafficking, Gaslighting, and Ableism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Vomit, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Cancer, and Alcoholism

kamrynkoble's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This is honestly one of my favorite thrillers I’ve ever read. I devoured this and was constantly thinking about it when I couldn’t be reading it. 

It was super twisty and kept me on my toes. The ending also made me cry—I don’t think I’ve EVER cried over a thriller! This was a great one. Perfectly plotted and worth studying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Animal cruelty, and Sexual assault

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

College student Darby Thorne gets stranded in a rural rest area during a snowstorm—and then finds a young girl locked in a dog cage inside a van in the parking lot.

It took me YEARS to get to this book but I am so glad I finally did! I read it in a single day because I literally could not put it down. No Exit is a true thriller in every sense of the word—fast paced and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. I also really loved the characters (even those I hated were rendered really well) and Darby in particular made for a kickass heroine.

My one quibble with this is that I anticipated more of a mystery element with big reveals and this isn’t really that kind of story. But if you want a super entertaining locked room drama and don’t mind a bit of gore, I highly recommend giving this a try.

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: high octane thrillers; locked room settings; crisis/survival plotlines

CW: Mentions of animal cruelty/death; kidnapping; mentions of child abuse and sexual abuse; trafficking; blood/murder/gore

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Gun violence, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Dementia

alyssa8898's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Body horror, and Gore

Minor: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Cancer

eleyden's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

5.0

Twist after twist! Some parts I could barely read because it was so graphic and disturbing. It had me on the edge of my seat from the first page. I loved the ending and it was just absolutely perfect. Seeing the evolution of the bond between Jay and Darby was so sweet. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit, Cancer, and Trafficking