Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

86 reviews

ruthmoog's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

4.75

This gave me chills. Once I was invested I whizzed through the story, whisked up by the relentless challenge to overcome the vampiric.

The group use their women's work skills to fight, but this was a bit cliché for me - and you could play content warning bingo with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Sexism, Stalking, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: War, Abandonment, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident

Nazism

aardwyrm's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Like having your teeth pulled out by barbed wire, but they're really polite about it. There is a very scary vampire, but, you know how all good horror is about the unnatural threat AND the real ones? There's more dread in a cocktail party with friendly acquaintances than in most of the scenes with, you know, vampirism. The book juggles its time and place, both as a setting dripping with dread and with a comfortable, sympathetic gentleness that never actually lets anybody off the hook (though Mrs. Green is really much too forgiving in the last act). Does a really interesting job with being horribly physical about the most mundane and most otherworldly manifestations of gore alike. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Racial slurs, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

I liked this book, but it's billed as more horror comedy, and I do want to be clear, the horrible parts are gonna hit.

lexi17d's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.5

Uhhh okay I have mixed feelings about this book. I didn’t really like any of the characters, wasn’t a fan of the ending, and I felt like a lot of parts were only put in as a shock factor, and for no other reason. Completely unnecessary, and left a bad taste in my mouth.

It was fairly suspenseful, and I felt the drive to continue reading to find out what happens, but the last 1/4 ruined the book for me.

I also have a lot of unanswered questions.

-Why did James’ aunt go savage? Was she really his aunt if he’s immortal?
-Were they able to kill the thing growing inside Slick? They just said she’d be cremated, but it seems like burning a vampire won’t kill them, and they never followed up on that.
-I don’t think they’d be able to clean his entire pristine white house completely free of any blood or stains. I know many of them clean houses for a living, but with how graphic they described the house to be, seems pretty impossible to clean the whole thing in a matter of a couple hours. 
-Why did all the husbands basically accept the fact that James just up and left? 
-What happened with the dead body in the attic? Nothing came of that?
-Why the heck was Blue so obsessed with Nazis?! That was so unnecessary and came off as very antisemitic. And Patricia just didn’t care at all about his obsession with that? Why was that necessary? 

The more I’m writing out my thoughts, the less I like this book. I may end up changing my rating lower in the future, but we will see. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Blood, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Classism, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Gore, and Rape

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and Drug use

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

We love to see moms kicking ass and this book showed us how far moms can go to protect their loved ones. I do wish all the women were more involved. People made this out to be more creepy/disturbing than it was for me. It was def worth a lot of the hype it received although it wasn't a perfect book for me. Entertaining for sure and a good read if youre in a bit of a spooky mood. Would def recommend checking content/trigger warnings because I wasn't expecting a few things in here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, and Sexual violence

heypretty52's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Drug abuse, Suicide, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death

cmoryeah's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Child abuse

boundforinfinity's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

A brilliant tale that kept me gripped for 2 hours. Southern mum's book club comes to terms with the horror in their neighbourhood, reading crime fiction about Ted bundy and Charles manson, Patricia and friends try to save their children and their souls from the dark and mysterious neighbour, James Harris. Well worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Death, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Murder, Drug abuse, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Gore, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child death, Child abuse, Medical trauma, and Drug use

graciejames121's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death, Suicide, and Violence

caitlin_doggos'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
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Dementia, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Rape, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Medical content

Minor: Animal death

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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

4.25

You know what’s going to happen the whole way but it was a fun story to sit with for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gore, Medical content, Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Classism, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Violence, Dementia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Rape, and Suicide