Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

No Exit by Taylor Adams

13 reviews

gaby_readsss's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

3.0

I read The Last Word earlier this year and loved it, which made me excited to read more of Taylor Adams’ books.
No Exit, however was a bit of a letdown for me.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was very action-packed and I was on edge for the most part, which is a good thing when you’re reading a thriller. However, one thing I really struggled with was the writing. I found some parts to be very problematic. Were the racist slurs and misogynistic jokes really necessary? I get these “jokes” come from one of the villains in this book and we are meant to hate this character, but it made me uncomfortable and it also made question the author to be honest, which is kind of sad because I thought he was a new favorite thriller author when I read The Last Word.

So yeah, this wasn’t a terrible thriller. It had all the expected elements: a girl making irrational decisions, an isolated location, no phone signal, and people being killed by a psychopath. But I was expecting more.

I’m not sure I’ll read more books by this author in the future. 

 
I still don’t know how these people, Sandi, Ashley, and Lars knew each other? Unless I missed it I don’t think it ever gets explained. It was kind of hard to believe all of it and it became a little too much toward the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Torture, and Misogyny

Minor: Alcoholism and Vomit

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Gore, Torture, Blood, and Ableism

Minor: Death of parent, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, and Terminal illness

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

noceur's review

tense fast-paced

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

3.0

i thought this was going to be a mystery but apparently not we learn who the kidnapper is in the first chapters, i have mixed feelings about this book some parts were cheesy and sometimes the villain came of as the over the top, mustache twirling kind and it took me out of the story but other times i would find myself rooting for the fmc and guessing what will happen, overall it was a good time but just keep in mind that this book relies on the shook value if you want things to make sense all the time this is not it there are some stupid decisions

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Violence, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Racism, and Misogyny

Minor: Death of parent, Medical content, and Pedophilia

ireadtoescape_'s review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Trafficking

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Pedophilia

violetbentbackwards1036's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Pedophilia, Medical content, Terminal illness, Torture, Trafficking, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Animal death, Gore, Cursing, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Rape, Gun violence, Murder, and Vomit

bookishgoob'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

3.5

a college girl ends up a rest stop with 4 other strangers during a blizzard. 

The suspense in this book starts immediately with the MC, Darby, realizing she forgot her phone charger, had no signal, and was caught in a blizzard and it doesn’t slow down from there. Having no cell signal in a room full of strangers on a terribly cold night is one thing, but that phone having only about 4% battery is the cherry on top of this anxiety inducing realization. The racial slurs were completely unnecessary. There are better ways to sue that your bad guy is a bad guy than using a racial slur, especially as a white author. I also think that the way the POV’s switched so abruptly was a bit confusing. I’m not a huge fan of men writing thrillers because of the way that their stories have the most awful, stomach churning, and sadistic things happening to their characters. I will say that the constant plot twists were incredibly exhausting. The first couple were so creepy and bamboozling but after the third and fourth it became a mind boggling enigma. That’s something I didn’t enjoy about it. There was so much that happened that I couldn’t fully take in because of the plot twist after plot twist writing Adams displayed in this story. I did enjoy it, I read it in about 4 hours so it was a very quick read. It had me holding my breath and biting my nails from the suspense. all in all I think it deserves a 3.5/5 star rating. 

POSSIBLE TRIGGERS: 

Death of a parent 

cancer 

body horror

blood

ableist slurs 

racial slurs 

attempted suffocation 

confinement 

vomit 

kidnapping 

implied sexual assault 

implied human trafficking 

implied pedophilia 

violence against women 

dark inner monologue about women 

sadism

snow storm

freezing 

gun violence 

amputation

vomit

medical trauma

medical needs not able to be met 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Trafficking, Vomit, Child abuse, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness

ladyfromthemixedupdesk's review against another edition

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? Yes

2.0

Good premise, awful execution. 

College girl goes home to see her dying mother, gets caught in a snowstorm at a rest stop, finds a young girl in a cage in the back of the fan and has to determine how far she is willing to go to save someone else.

Juvenile, lazy writing. If you had told me a teenage boy wrote this, I would have believed you. Repetitive. Cringey, try-hard dialogue.

Unnecessary misogyny, racial slurs and ableism. 

This is not good writing. Maybe it makes a better movie. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Racial slurs

cepbreed's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Wow. It takes a lot for me to be so committed to a book on a school night. I started it to help me fall asleep, but suddenly its 2 am and I'm sitting here, book closed, in pure shock. I wasn't amazed by the book in the beginning. It seemed standard and I was able to catch one of the twists right away but after that I was completely lost. My brain was tossed in every direction following this plot and my stomach turned with every moment of suspense. Every single character is a dumbass but goddamn if being a stubborn dumbass doesn't help you succeed.

Song:

• Triggered - Chase Atlantic 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Terminal illness

Minor: Medical content

libraryofdoe's review

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

While snowed in at a rest stop, a woman sees a child’s handprint on a van window and upon further inspection realises there might be a child trafficker among the friendly faces trapped with her.

I really enjoyed this. While I was initially mildly upset that the twists were clunky and easy to foresee, the last fifth of the book really surprised and intrigued me and the plot was gripping.

On the whole I highly recommend, especially if you enjoy tense thrillers with relatable leads. Darby Thorne, you have my whole heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death of parent, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Terminal illness, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Stalking