Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager

15 reviews

skullpixie's review

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Absolutely loved the twists. In typical Sager fashion, the pace really picks up at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, and Alcohol

jessica_leffler's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I read Middle of the Night for book club, and while I normally wouldn’t normally choose to read a thriller, this book kept me enthralled. I did accurately predict at least part of the ending, but there were enough plot twist and surprises to give me whiplash. It also definitely gave me goose bumps, but was wasn’t so scary that I couldn’t read it in the Middle of the Night 😜

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Murder

sohare1981's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying and Stalking

Minor: Drug use, Terminal illness, Violence, Dementia, and Murder

emsiemuffin's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, and Car accident

mrsmishler's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Drug abuse and Car accident

bookwitch's review

mysterious tense slow-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

3.25

This did not hit like a Riley Sager book. I know a lot of people have been complaining about the decline in his writing the last few years but I actually really enjoyed Only One Left. This on the other hand was very meh.

I liked the idea of making a setting that is stereotypically seen as safe and secure, and flipping it on it's head, but I don't necessarily think this was well done. The conclusion was extremely disappointing and anti-climatic, and the characters are all extremely insufferable. A forgettable one, for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Dementia

Minor: Car accident

hauntedantiqueshop's review

dark lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

2.5

This was just okay. It didn’t really do much, it’s a bit repetitive, the plot was meh, there were red herrings but even they were just alright. Henry was cool, I love a weird kid. Other than that, there was really nothing to write home about. EXCEPT!!! I got (user)name dropped in this book. I’m now convinced he reads my reviews saying he should retire. HE’S THREATENING ME!!!!!!! But really, this is a pretty weak book for Sager. The ending was actually incredibly lackluster, like shockingly bland and boring. But perhaps I have finally and fully outgrown Mr. Sager’s books. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Suicide

there was a death by overdose mentioned several times, no real details go into it but yeah.

madisonjordan5693's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

3.5 ⭐️ This was a decent book and I enjoyed reading it. In typical Riley Sager fashion though there were just sooooo many twists that it’s hard to not roll your eyes. Still worth reading though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Confinement, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

courtofbooksanddogs's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This is my second book by Sager and while I liked this one better than The Only One Left, I was disappointed at the “thrill” aspect of this thriller. I found the twists to be predictable and I saw all of them coming a mile away. I did find several of the plot lines in to be very sad and I even teared up once which I didn’t expect to feel out of a thriller novel. If you enjoy Sager, I imagine you’d enjoy this too!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

gellyreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Wow, I'm not sure what all to say about this one. I'm an avid Sager reader and lover, and this one was not at all what I was expecting.

On one hand, I'm really disappointed because there was so much build up around the Hawthorne Institute that went absolutely nowhere. But the fact that it was just her as a teen, underage drinking, and a complete accident, feels so real? Like, that is what would happen in real life. That would be devastating. But it also feels like a bit of a cop out with the mystery. I'm okay with the way the ghost kid was involved in this one and saving their lives at the end; I really enjoyed the twist of the other neighbor kid being the one who cut the tent and that the "haunting" was done by Andy, which I actually did call! But wow.

This one was a wild and twisty ride and is honestly unpredictable as a reader, I think. Not my favorite work he's written, but not my least favorite under this pen name either. The switching of the point of views for the past tense was also a bit distracting for me when it was Ethan, and I enjoyed it more when we saw other characters' POVs in the past tense that way. Also, nice to see some diverse characters, finally! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Minor: Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Forced institutionalization