Reviews with content warning for Confinement - No Exit

Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

melissa_h's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A pretty solid thriller with some good twists.

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wends_nblw's review

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dark mysterious 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

I need to start taking reviews with a grain of salt because they always set my expectations too high. That being said, this was still a good thriller.

I couldn't stand Darby at first, but I found myself warming up to her towards the halfway point before fully loving her character by the end. With the rest of the cast, I couldn't decide if I hated or loved them. There aren't many side characters : aside from Darby, we have five other distinctive characters.

As for the culprit

(in this case : one of the culprits, Ashley)

... I found myself fully enraptured by them. Their motive, their point of view, the way they spoke.. I couldn't help but find myself being manipulated by them. By the end, I was as smitten with them as they were with Darby. For sure one of my favorite antagonists of any book.

So many twists and turns, I wouldn't say this book had me on the edge of my seat, but it certainly had me sitting up straight. Every time I thought this book was going to end, that Darby and this little girl, Jay, were going to escape, 'No Exit' would toss that hope aside and shoot me with a nail gun. I would groan and in the words of our villain, say "oh, come on."

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comeundun's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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claire_reardon's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

2.5

This was the exact kind of nonsensical stupidity I needed after two heavy fantasy books. Can’t wait to see the movie and laugh through the entire thing.

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fi_reads_books's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

4.0

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ireadtoescape_'s review

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dark emotional sad tense fast-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

1.5

I never would have picked this book up had it not been a book club pick. Stressful.

I will say that part of the premise is very frustrating. The constant bad bad, very bad decisions were exhausting.

Starting with Darby herself - who goes on a wintery long-distance trip so completely unprepared???

Come on!! I get it adds to the plot but wow, my sister!! Also, be more inventive as an author?? I don’t know… The converse sneakers in winter really did me in ☹️😪😪 everyone knows converse are not shoes for the winter!! Even if you’ve never worn them, everyone in your life will tell you that converse are not for the cold. They’re freezers!! Honestly!!

Anyway, white men write women characters in a very odd way. I don’t know. Unsettling at times.

The villain was a lot! And I don’t know if I’m happy with how he’s been written as well. Was exhausting at the end of it. And obviously had to be good-looking. 👀 hot white guys can be villains, too. Diversity 🫶🏾

The ableism. Omg. I cannot!! The use of rat-face was so awful on top of that. This author said you all WILL know that I am a dude bro. Ew.

Also the bus driver lady??? Lol!! What do you mean, Mother Theresa!!??? 😭😭😭😭 What in the warped altruism?? I couldn’t believe that when I read it. No ways, my sister??! What a mess.

Ask me how this author found a way to include racism PLUS a racial slur that added absolutely nothing to the plot in a book with only white characters. Pls what the hell! The guy is a child abductor - he’s a terrible person. That’s enough to convince us. It doesn’t need to be substantiated with racism that added nothing to the plot. Urgh. This may be the last book by a white man I ever read because no ways??? 😭 I’m a baby girl who deserves better.

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meeklovestoread's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

I put this book down 22 pages in the first time, but I just couldn't help not knowing what happens especially considering how popular it was online so I decided to give the book a chance. I did finish it this time. Overall I'd say it was a very entertaining read for me. All together I read it within a few hours. Very fast paced in my opinion, however there were numerous inconsistencies, idiotic behavior, and unsettling details that didn't need to be included.

We find out who the perpetrator(s) is/are pretty quickly which to me wasn't a surprise. The person revealed themsleves earlier but the main character just didn't pick up on the dialogue.

The part about Lars and Ashley being brother's was unexpected. I'll grant the author that, but having Sandi involved felt ridiculous. She didn't really contribute much to the story. Also I wasn't too surprised that she was involved cuz she was a little too calm for me to believe something wasn' t up.

Also, the author has a tendecy to utilize plot points only when they're convenient for the story to either move the plot along or to enhance the stakes rather than having the plot points make sense.

For example, we're told they're in a blizzard, but when the characters would go outside there's rarely any mention of them being affected the gushing winds pulling them back or suffering from frost bite or them shivering at all.

Another example is how the abducted child, Jay, was portrayed. She has Addison's disease and is told that extreme stressful situations can indirectly lead to her death. But this element is only utilize when the author wants to raise the stakes because when Darby ultimately finds her way to Jay she is unbelievably calm. And she remains calm in most of the situations the main character encounters. Not once did she shed tears or cry hysterically. I thought this was deliberate and that the author was gonna reveal some big twist that the girl was in on it too or something, but no, it's just poor writing.

Also, I found the use of racial slurs in this book to be so unnecessary. As well as the potential incest/molestation and animal cruelty. Like we get the main perpetrator is a reprehensible psychotic human being, but I think we established that the moment it's revealed that they sex traffick young girls and don't care. All that other stuff wasn't just unnecessary icing an already drenched cake.

Also we find that Lars suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome which to me, was very unnecessary and I think was only used to establish that he was a "mindless" follower and a victim to his brother's conditioning. But I don't think it was necessary to add things like fetal alcohol syndrome and pancreatic cancer when they literally contributed little to nothing towards the plot.

Also, the ending felt kinda ambiguous to me, but maybe I just looked too much into it. I'm glad I read it so I can assuage my curiosity so I know to never pick it up again. Don't think I'll ever read anything this author writes. It just wasn't for me.

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weird_but_fucking_beautiful's review

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dark tense fast-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? No

4.0

This book reads like a Liam Neeson movie. Once the action begins, it is rapid fire quick and the dialogue crackles with menacing suspense. The cliffhanger chapter endings beg you to push on even if it is 1am on a work night…you know you won’t sleep until you find out what happens next. Taylor Adams ratchets up the tension like the best of them a la Stephen King. In fact it if I didn’t know better, it felt like I was reading an earlier novel by Mr. King (the emphasis on “earlier”)

Darby, the reluctant heroine of this book proves to be both resourceful and badass. In the course of this fateful eight hours she grows from an angsty college student with a chip on her shoulder to a pragmatic and selfless guardian to young Jay.

The novel’s intent is to entertain and it delivers on that intent. It was a creepy and fun ride with copious amounts of snow, which in my opinion ALWAYS ratchets up the anxiety and foreboding to the Nth degree (think The Shining).

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