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libraryofdoe's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
- 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
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
ivana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
mostlyliterate's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Misogyny, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Torture
Minor: Ableism, Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, and Vomit
elskabee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
My first thriller could not have been a better pick I think! Must have been fate because I checked this out at the library on a whim because I thought "hey I've seen that title before and I'm pretty sure I remember vaguely positive reviews??" HOT DAMN
I finished this in one day because I could not stop reading! It's so fast paced and the tension is always there seeing as it takes place over a short period of time. The main character Darby is also just excellent. I was really able to connect with her (aside from the fact that we both drive ancient honda civics that we named) and she didn't make dumb/unrealistic decisions like I was worried. Also, if you want a thriller where the lead just gets progressively more feral, here you go.
Good thing to note is that this isn't as much of a mystery as the synopsis suggests. So just go in knowing that it's more of a survival thriller than a mystery thriller, though it still has plenty of twists and turns.
Even though I'm giving this 5 stars, I'll admit it's not perfect, but a lot of that is probably personal preference. Like I think the ending could have been a tad less drawn out, and there's at least one plot hole that luckily wasn't major enough to ruin anything but still annoyed me lol. The author also uses the word mushy way too much :/ But at least it had a satisfying ending which is more than I expected on my first thriller adventure.
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, and Gore
Moderate: Vomit, Torture, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Confinement
caties_books's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit
hatterell's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I didn't feel the first very much. I'm confident that this is just to do with when I read, sometimes thrillers stick for me and other times they don't. I was shocked by a couple of twists and gruesome events, but overall I didn't felt drawn to the story. I could put it down.
I agree with the second description far more. Darby is an interesting character to read from, smart and full of ideas that I would never have thought of. Her patience and intelligence made her a great perspective to read from. My favourite characters were Darby and Jay, who was more upbeat and determined that I expected, and their dynamic was a welcome pause from the intensity of the rest of the book.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Death of parent and Terminal illness
marxnchill's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Fatphobia, Death, Body horror, and Animal death
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Racism, and Racial slurs
nickoliver's review against another edition
- 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
What bothered me about the book, though, was how the prologue pretty much gave everything away. I didn't realise that at first because I didn't pay that much attention to the prologue, but if you did? You could figure out everything about the plot - the one plot twist about the kidnapper, the reason for the kidnapping, absolutely everything - within the first 100 pages.
Moreover, a lot about the plot felt very drawn out. First of all, the main character kept making dumb decisions that just postponed a good ending. She kept fucking up, which was so frustrating after a while that it kind of sucked the whole tension out of the story. Secondly, the climax took so long to happen that it just about drove me up the wall.
And what action we did get was so brutal that after a while, the violence felt gratuitous in a way that almost bordered on torture porn. I don't mind violence, but the one in here just didn't have a purpose most of the time. It was just there to shock the readers.
Plot-wise, the story just didn't have all too much to offer. There wasn't that much that wasn't predictable, and there was a lot that I feel like I had to suspend my disbelief for? For example, at the beginning of the story, it was around 7.30 p.m., and Darby's phone battery had 6% left. And yet somehow, she still had battery left at like, three and four in the morning, despite the fact that she'd constantly tried to send texts and make calls? My phone would be dead after like, fifteen minutes, what kind of magic phone did she have?
When it came to the villains, they were very cartoonish, especially the main one. I did find him interesting, he was twisted and psychopathic, but he kept going off on tangents, like he was some movie villain who had to monologue his entire plan to the heroes. He talked very clichéd. Plus, sometimes he talked about Darby in a way that just made it obvious that the writer was a man, like focusing on her looks and wishing she was his girlfriend instead. Those scenes were unnecessary and just made me roll my eyes. Kind of took the suspense out of the story, too.
Adams also relied a bit too heavily on a "bad people being ugly and good people being pretty" kind of trope. Darby zeroed in on one of the bad guys immediately because he looked like a rat, without even having any evidence yet that he was bad. She solely judged him based on his looks, which pissed me off. She also referred to him as "rat face" for the majority of the story, even after learning his name. Which would be fine if she did that with everyone - like, if that was just something she did -, but she literally only did it with him. Plus, another bad guy was a bad kisser, because a villain being good at that? Impossible. It was a bit cheap, because that's absolutely not how it works in real life.
Then, one of the villains had a disability - foetal alcohol syndrom -, which I really didn't appreciate being villainised. It was shown at times that said character had grown up around violence, depraved men and abuse, so it could be argued that that's why he became the way he was, and that it had nothing to do with his disability. But it still made me feel gross that the only disabled character in this book was a bad guy.
Lastly, there was the little girl, Jay. She also wasn't written that well, because she somehow read way too old for her age? She was supposed to be around six or seven, but she seemed more like an older child. I can't even explain why, but she just didn't act very childlike.
I wasn't a fan of the writing at all. There were some weird similes, and they were often quite morbid. They did seem fitting for a thriller somehow, but they weren't things someone would just randomly come up with. For example, comparing a broken windscreen wiper to a broken wrist, or the sky to a lilac bruise. Adams also repeated himself constantly, kept repeating the same information over and over again, which was annoying.
This book had potential to be exceptional, and while I did enjoy parts of the book, it was overall a bit disappointing.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Child abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, and Terminal illness
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Vomit
another CW: villifying of a disability --> one of the bad guys has fetal alcohol syndrometoodeadtoread's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, and Physical abuse
Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Trafficking