Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

38 reviews

caitlynkb's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

johnda6th's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

autumnhab's review

dark 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

3.75

Good thriller, but I didn’t love the three perspectives. I think if I would have read this I would have liked it more. The keeping up of three perspectives did end well, but again I’m not a big fan of multiple perspectives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy and Fire/Fire injury

abigailrosalynn's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mediocrebest's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

clarklyn's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Gyllian Flynn knows how to write grimy, gross characters and environments. So many moments in this book made my stomach turn and my skin crawl. Not my favorite read to be honest- Sharp Objects was less grimey in my opinion. However, the story kept me interested enough to tolerate the disgusting descriptions but just barely. There were 2-3 spots that genuinely almost made me DNF. Lots of animal cruelty/killing/abuse and the MC even kills a pet dog at one point. Lots of other horrid descriptions throughout that made me queasy. 

I hated Ben…but it almost seems like the author doesn’t want us to hate Ben? His girlfriend/baby mamma/emotional abuser killed his sister and he let her get away with it for 2 decades? Huh?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Ms. Flynn is just such a specific but descriptive writer. It's a rough, bloody story, but it does keep you guessing until the end, and the format of slowly revealing the past story in real time makes you want to keep pushing through the story. It may have felt a bit on the slow side, but I didn't mind it. It is really interesting to think about who "owns" your story once something so big happens that it can't stay in just your life anymore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Grief, and Suicide attempt

mullingford's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

4.0

A good book. Not quite as gripping as Gone Girl but a few surprising twists. Didn’t like the main character but she wasn’t meant to be likeable. It’s easy to see how this book contained the formative seeds of Gone Girl.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Violence

lothwolfjedi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Un thriller très prenant, avec un ventre mou au milieu qui fait que ce n’est pas un five stars mais c’est efficace, dérangeant, presque obsédant. On a envie de le terminer rapidement. Je suis mitigée sur le dénouement, mais j’y repenserai, c’est sûr. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness

ryendnae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Pedophilia, and Violence