Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Last Word by Taylor Adams

76 reviews

_alyssabrown's review

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Child death, Cursing, Car accident, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Violence, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Stalking, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

somebodys_fool's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Death

savvyrosereads's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

Emma gets more than she expects when she leaves a one-star review of a book…only to begin being stalked by the author.

Thus concludes my mini Taylor Adams marathon! This was probably the one I was most excited to get to because the premise sounded so interesting, and it ended up being the scariest of the bunch—seriously, I’m not even sure why, but it freaked me out SO much I had to only read during the daytime.

That said, I did find most of the twists predictable and felt like, while this one was engaging, it moved along more slowly than the previous Adams books I read. I definitely wouldn’t say I disliked this one (seriously, I wouldn’t, and neither would you if you read what an angry author might do!) (kidding, I think) but it was not my favorite either.

Overall, though, I had a good time and I’m glad I read this. It’s a pretty solid thriller with some creative moments, and a great choice if you’re not ready to let go of spooky season just yet!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: isolated settings; grief recovery mixed with thrillers; books about books

CW: Suicide; death/murder; child death; animal harm; gore/blood/violence/gun violence; infertility

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Gore, Stalking, Child death, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, Murder, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

likeagilmoregirl's review against another edition

dark tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

The concept of this book: an author becomes so infuriated by a one star review that he tracks down the review to murder her, sounded too fun to pass up. And thankfully, I enjoyed this book a lot.

The first 50% of this book was incredible. I was thoroughly creeped out and was having a great time coming up with theories about what the twists would be. And even when many of my theories were proven right, they were done in such a way that left me invested in the story and frequently wanting to throw my e-reader across the room.

The weak points for me were after the halfway mark. While the book was engaging all the way through, it sometimes became frustrating to see what was happening way before some of the characters did. The main twist involving the heroine’s past also made it difficult to sympathize with her the way I would have like to as a reader. And there was also a very very brief, seemingly last-minute decision to include an explanation/excuse of mental illness concerning the killer that left a bad taste in my mouth. These things brought this down from a 4 to a 3.5 for me.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot. I couldn’t put it down and I was a little sad when it was over. Love the premise, mostly love the story. Going to sleep with my lights on now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Gun violence, Murder, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Death, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Addiction, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

kat_rowlen's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

The twists just kept coming and coming. The ending was a little drawn out. Taylor Adams artfully included several thriller tropes without making them into cliches. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Dementia, Body horror, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Grief, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

lauren_shilling's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book was incredible! It was exactly what I was looking for in a thriller when I picked it up, and it has definitely put me in the mood to read more thrillers! It was so creepy and there are a lot of aspects of it that are genuinely horrifying! I do want to say about the dog in the story (and this is a bit of a spoiler, but for readers like me it was important to know before getting too deep into this book)

the dog does not die in!! Though she is in direct danger at multiple points, she never dies and never sustains lasting injuries

. This book was so fast paced, it was practically just non stop action! I have very little complaints and I am very excited to have found another thriller that I love so much! I've been having some trouble finding some recently, and I am so glad that i found this one! I loved following Emma as a character! She was absolutely incredible, and the strength and resilience that she showed throughout the story was nothing short of admirable. I loved her so much, and she was the perfect character for this story! The only reason I did not give this the full five stars was because of the ending. I did love the ending, but something about it felt a little off to me. I guess I kind of wished we had cleared that part of the story and gotten that particular plot twist earlier, because it kind of comes after most of the action and main plot has already taken place. I don't know why, because usually that kind of thing really works for me where there's one last surprise when you think it's all over, but for some reason it felt a bit over the top in this book. That being said, I loved the twist itself and I loved how it ended up unraveling, and in the long run, it made sense that it came at that point in the story, so I can't fault it that much. Check content warnings too because this book was a bit heavier than I expected! I felt as if the topics were all handled super well, and they made sense for the story, but check to make sure none of the topics in the book are triggering for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Gore, and Infertility

Minor: Stalking and Domestic abuse

danielle70's review

funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Car accident, Child death, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Infertility, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Stalking, Death of parent, Vomit, Grief, Infertility, Physical abuse, Violence, Suicide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Car accident, Mental illness, Murder, Alcoholism, Child death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

collinsd's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child death, Violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Self harm, Alcohol, and Car accident

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Grief, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

lilifane's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

This is a surprising and unexpected book. I did not expect the scary atmosphere in the first half. I was reading it at night, before bed, alone at home... would not recommend. Or maybe I would recommend it for the goosebumps. It felt a little too similar to the plot of the book, with the protagonist alone in an isolated house at night. At least she had a dog. It doesn't happen often that I am genuinely scared while reading, but this book managed to creep me out. Then it tuned into a full on action packed slaher, and it felt like watching a movie in my mind. On the other hand, the book doesn't take itself too seriously and the dark humor made me giggle several times. There were also more twists and turns than probably good for a plot, but I really enjoyed them, didn't even try to predict anything just because of how wild the story got. And when you think you've reached the end.. there is still 20% left, and you get another ending and another and another. I enjoyed these, so it didn't drag for me. 
I have one critique, though. There is a revelation towards the end which felt misplaced and unnecessary. It felt like something too serious for the kind of story this was. And it was used for shock value and to quickly add an emotional element, which worked. But it felt cheap, unearned and again unnecessary. So I recommend you look up trigger warnings. 
The dog mentioned above suffers a lot during the plot, but don't worry, it survives, thankfully. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Child death, Confinement, Stalking, Violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts