Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

13 reviews

mrgriffit's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

An extremely well crafted murder mystery. The format of this book is fun and refreshing and feels modern in a way that mystery stories don’t often do.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Murder

browsingthebooks's review against another edition

5.0

Totally gripping mystery. Unique format that forces you to play detective. Great for discussion!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Child death, Torture, Rape, Cancer, Trafficking, Murder, Drug use, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Excrement, Death, Addiction, and Child abuse

This was actually a really clean book as compared to a lot of contemporary mystery novels. Only a couple of curses in the whole thing. No sexual content. Most of the warnings I listed as minor were just references.

rachel101's review against another edition

challenging funny informative mysterious 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

5.0

Don’t be put off by the style of the book, stay with it…. It’s a fabulous read 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Cancer, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Infertility, and Mental illness

calicat42's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

The structure was creative—a fun twist on the who dunnit genre.  At the start of the book, there’s no real information about what has happened, so instead of knowing what will happen and watching the characters figure it out, the reader only gets to know as much as the characters. Hard to put a book like that down! 

Although I fell in love with the structure, the content left me wanting a little. There were times where the plot moved quickly because the twists and turns were coming in every line. Yet there were times where I wished I could have read in x2 speed to move things along. I think this just comes to my preferences regarding mysteries; I don’t want to take my foot off the gas once the plot picks up! 

Overall, I enjoyed the read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Stalking, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: War

gabi_tron's review against another edition

challenging dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Murder, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

kellyeweber's review against another edition

funny mysterious sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Mental illness, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

Minor: Chronic illness

jennshelfishlife's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

 The Appeal is about a small, close-knit community involved in a murder. The story is told in epistolary format, where readers will read email exchanges (note: read the funny end notes on the emails), text messages, interviews, and litigation paperwork.
There are numerous characters in the story; fortunately, it was easy to follow each of their accounts since the characters are outlined in the Fairway Players theatre group's role sheet.

Martin Haywood's family, the alpha family, is undergoing a tragedy in their family as the young granddaughter is diagnosed with rare brain cancer. The family needs a life-saving therapy, still undergoing testing, in America, which leads to a crowdsource event led by the Fairway Players. However, the story is not as simple as that, and readers will delve into the Haywood family's discourse with Dr. Tish Bhatoa and the latter's history. Sam, a nurse, and new Fairway Player, begin to dig to uncover her suspicions of Dr. Bhatoa and finds more than she expected, leading to her untimely death.
A lot can be said about the story and the multiple storylines and how they intersect, but I will leave that to the readers. This reader would also like to note that the irony of the play being rehearsed is not lost on this reader.

The Appeal is a page-turning novel that left this reader appalled and amazed at how the story and the mysteries were unveiled.
The story has triggers (e.g., fraud, cancer, murder, rape), but they are mild, except for the fraud.
I recommend this novel to fans of mysteries and epistolary storytelling.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Child death, Infertility, Child abuse, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

kstericker's review against another edition

challenging funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

THIS RIPS.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Terminal illness, Cancer, Death, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Addiction, Violence, Child death, and Bullying

Minor: Rape, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

embey's review against another edition

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

Genuinely one of the most genius books I've ever read. Un-put-downable to the point of interfering with work.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Death, Excrement, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Cancer, Mental illness, Murder, and War

Minor: Racism and Torture

paperknotbooks's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a lot of fun to explore. I was calling this book my “bathroom read,” since the text is broken up into emails and text messages. Very entertaining if you are seeking something engaging. 

My only gripe is that you know from the cover there is a murder, but that doesn’t come to term until 60-70% point of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Bullying, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Murder