Reviews tagging 'Racism'

No Exit by Taylor Adams

34 reviews

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

whitneyonline's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

1.0

This book got a one star from me as soon as the author, who is white, had a white character use the n-word. A character that wasn’t even relevant to the plot, which infuriates me even more. So the “joke” in which the slur was used was completely unnecessary. This book was published in 2019, the author should know better than to use racial slurs. I feel that it is completely unnecessary for white authors to use racial slurs, even when the character is supposed to be a terrible, racist person. There are plenty of ways to convey racism without using racial slurs, especially as a white person. You’re an author, after all - be creative!! I’m not trying to “cancel” Taylor Adams, I’m just expressing my extreme disappointment and surprise.

Outside of that incident I still didn’t really enjoy the plot twists. They weren’t very effective - like, textbook “everything has gone wrong oh no what do we do” - and I found that there were many times I had trouble suspending my disbelief. The characters weren’t really well developed and there were some loose ends that didn’t get explained - like why the bus driver decided to help with the kidnapping in the first place, and how they even came into contact with the kidnapper. I’ll be interested to see if the Hulu movie adaptation is any better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, Animal death, Terminal illness, Death, Gore, Racism, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Body horror

amyspag's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

2.5

I couldnt put this book down but I also didn't like it, its complicated. Firstly I'm not a fan of the repeated use of the racial slur often used against Chinese people, even acknowledging that its a slur doesn't mean you have to repeatedly use it no matter the context. There is also use of the n word, while it's used by someone who is obviously an awful person it just never sits right with me when a white author put those words in their book when they can maybe use other offensive terms to show the type of person they are without using painful and harmful slurs.
 

The tension was definitely what kept me reading this book but it was undermined by the writing of the villains. They felt like home alone burglers to me the whole time and it cut the tension. The constant use of 'baby brother' was so annoying but not as annoying as the last 100 pages. The repetition of 'Darby is safe.. He's followed us.. Darby is safe... There is Ashley' was too much. And that epilogue

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, and Trafficking

annabulkowski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Car accident, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cancer, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Gore, Confinement, Alcoholism, Torture, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

xabbielovesnovelsx's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Torture, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Racism, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Gun violence, and Alcoholism

emeraldelephant'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Confinement, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Racism, Death of parent, Dementia, Child abuse, and Ableism

victoriakuo13's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.75

Such a fast read. My heart was pounding so loudly throughout the entirety of this novel. While I thought that the twists and turns would be more focused on who the owner of the van was, I was pleased with how the plot actually panned out and how it moved outside of the rest stop. 

Darby was REALLY put through the ringer in this book and I love how strong she was written even though this was written by a male author. Against literally ALL odds, she pushed her way through every obstacle when I definitely would have rolled over and accepted death. 

I think I somehow just felt very disconnected to Darby. I know the story was concentrated, but I wanted her family to be more involved. And more backstory that may have added tension. Even though I saw her as a hero, I didn’t see her as my friend. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

libraryofdoe's review against another edition

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

mollitorm's review against another edition

dark 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? N/A

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Pedophilia, Grief, and Car accident

subtlebookish's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Trafficking, Sexism, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Cancer, and Blood