Reviews tagging 'Death'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

175 reviews

bekah1210's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

aishwaryamoyal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A perfect tribute to And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.

It's Nana's 80th birthday and Halloween and the whole darker family is summoned together to celebrate after years of happily deterring each other at Seaglass, an eroding bungalow in a private island which gets cut down from the whole world during the night when the tide comes.

Thrilling right? Nana also intended to uncover her will today. What was destined to be a birthday party soon starts turning into a bloodbath when each member of the family starts getting murdered in mysterious ways. There is no way to leave Seaglass before dawn so the family is stuck there with the killer. 

I was caught up with the book after reading that agent's note on the first page and there was no going back. Each page and word was laced with perfect narration and suspense building creating a precise mixture of thriller and supernatural novels. It was my 2nd book from the author and it's my favourite now. I couldn't put the book down once the family started pouring in and was engrossed till the last page. 

What was the best part of this book - THE ENDING it happens rarely when you get that bone-chilling yet satisfying ending and that's what this book did. Characters were not exactly likeable but watching them stuck in the labyrinth of past and present was engaging at its best. The spooky atmosphere and the jump from present to past were penned effortlessly by the author. I am gonna go now before i spoil some spoilers and add more books from Alice Feeny on my TBR.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Car accident

laurenleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

Though it’s not 100% necessary, having read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie made me appreciate this thriller much more. It’s not a total rip off of the inspiration, but there’s clearly a huge influence. I was kept guessing throughout, which was enjoyable. The high tide closing them in on the island was an interesting motif, and framing the story through a fictional editor’s perspective is a very fun Nabokovian element. However, I disliked how our narrator was constantly stopping the story to pepper in aphorisms. I get that her character had a heart condition and her mother stopped her from fully participating in most activities, so she spent her life on the outside looking in. But putting a platitude in every other sentence got real old, real quick.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Child death and Sexual harassment

julienicole1106's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

emmehooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-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

4.0

Gooped, gagged, shocked (I’ve never read any Agatha Christie so I didn’t know the trope coming in). Every time I thought I had something figured out, I was wrong. Going back after I finished reading, there were so many clever hints, semantics, and clues spread in the book. 

I enjoyed the blending of flashbacks and present, good pacing, and a plot I am very excited to talk about at book club!!! 

The ending was quite full circle but I wish there was a little more to answer a few lingering questions. A huge build-up to such a short conclusion despite leaving so much room for more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Blood

tamara_joy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Car accident

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

i absolutely loved this book. it was like a less racist and homophobic version of And Then We Were None by Agatha Christie. if someone would’ve proposed this book to me i would’ve never read it because the tropes seem cliché and underwhelming. however, the execution was flawless. she delivered these tropes i normally find stupid in such an impressive and compelling way imo. also the end interaction between two of the main characters genuinely brought me to tears. i would ABSOLUTELY recommend this to almost anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Was this perfect? No. Did I have a lot of fun? Yes! 
I feel like I can't say anything about this without giving shit away so I'm going to leave it at that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Misogyny and Sexual content

Minor: Animal death, Fatphobia, and Pedophilia

cestnicka's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Listened as an audiobook and I really enjoyed the person narrating it! It was fun listening to it in a British accent. Was a good book for me! I enjoyed it more than her last book from her, Rock Paper Scissors! 

I like the setting. I really liked her description of the place they were at and seemed like a perfect setting for a murder thriller book. 

It felt like she was taking me through one of those escape rooms but with a bit of a clue vibe to it. Was a cool concept. I really enjoyed the final plot twist. I didn’t guess it even though she did leave a lot of Easter eggs to allow the reader to guess it which I thought was kinda cool. Maybe if I had been reading and not listening I would have!? But I dunno! 

What I didn’t like was some of the repetitiveness to the book. Which I realize is a style but it’s just not my favorite style of book. I found that a little boring. I also found it kinda wierd that the family wasn’t more suspicious of each other and were just going along with this whole plan. 

I had also guessed who the murderer was pretty early on, but I didn’t understand the whole plan and not the whole twist so I really appreciated that!! Books always get a bit of a higher rating for me when I get a surprise at the end! 

Enjoyed it, would definitely recommend to people who like thrillers! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

amberjackonski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder