Reviews tagging 'Gore'

If You Tell by Gregg Olsen

31 reviews

katemonster's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.5

I listened to the audiobook version. Could not stop listening. Devoured it in 2 days on a long car ride. It is very disturbing. There were several times I wanted to cry. Very difficult content. It kept me interested and invested in the family (especially the sisters) from the beginning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Murder

maruchan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

I don't know how to rate this book.

Should I give if five stars so people know I recommend it?

I feel bad giving a rating to an experience so raw.

What happened to this girl's is simply awful. Can't be put into words. Please know that this is a really painful read. It will stay with me for a long, long time. 

How can a person be so rotten inside? We will never know. I feel so bad knowing she was released from jail. Justice wasn't served enough.

Please read this. Even tho it's hard, the sisters deserve their story to be known. 

This book was so well written, it felt like fiction. I wish it was fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

redrose90's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Can be triggering for some

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content and Vomit

Minor: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, and Excrement

amy_lp's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

mjd001's review against another edition

this book talks about abuse is so many forms. Very disturbing and should have trigger warnings on the cover.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Abandonment

aijah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense slow-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Gaslighting

nuuamuikkunen's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

2.75

Tykkään siitä miten Gregg Olsen kirjottaa tositapahtumista kuin ne ois fiktiota. Mutta se misogynian ja fat shaming oli ihan överiä tässä kirjassa! Et naiset haluaa vaan olla äitejä ja jos lihot 10 kiloa oot ihan kamalan läski. Yök.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Medical content

priscillarobock's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

maddness22's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

0.25

I do not respect this book in the slightest. It's an attempt to capitalize on one family's horrible tragedy during the height of the true crime fascination. This is poorly written without any substance to the cruelty it outlines. There's no additional psychological insight into the mother's sadistic nature, no actual mention of the "bonds of sisterhood" until the final 10% of the book and even then it's a rather weak grab, and the timeline of events is written in the worst and most confusing manner. This was literally just composed for shock value and really only lists the acts of crimes committed by the narcissistic and sadistic mother and her pathetic husband. 

If it was meant as a warning for Shelly's release or even as a toolkit for others to recognize how severe abuse can be so subtle in its nature to integrate so fully in a victim's life, the message could've been conveyed with about 200 less pages and repetitive drawn out torture scenes. However, these lessons are barely conveyed successfully anyways. The writing is vague, confusing, and the author truly uses the word "niggled" un-ironically at one point. Like? Seriously? That's not even a real word and it sounds childish at best. 

Skip this shock value torture nonsense. Just know their mother was vile and we need to believe in victims. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

csimonsensays's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail