Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Last Word by Taylor Adams

55 reviews

caitlin_davis22's review

dark emotional funny hopeful 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? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Miscarriage, Blood, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism

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!

---

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

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

---

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

---

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. 

---

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

chasingpages1's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Violence, Animal death, Death, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Car accident, Child death, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Vomit

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical content, Addiction, Excrement, and Eating disorder

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

 Another book I'm torn on rating. Some parts I found predictable and some parts irritating, but overall it was fairly well-written and entertaining. 
Mostly I found the male-narrated parts to be annoying but insightful. I think part of it was the narrator's voice, and the character himself to be annoying, but I think he was sort of modeled after INCELs. 
Whereas Emma's parts are more palatable. I took her POV to be more reliable, as some things were told from both POVs but the spin of the character.
I didn't expect the final twist with Emma and what had happened in her life prior to the beach.
Overall it was a pretty good book. And I'm so glad that Laika survived! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Violence, Blood, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Infertility and Bullying

kimveach's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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

2.5

This wasn't the book for me.  The first part took too long and was the set-up for any horror movie.  The author did this intentionally to make fun of the "defenseless woman alone" trope.  But I've never liked that sort of book or movie, and it didn't work for me.  If you like horror films, you'll probably like this book.  The rest of the book was clever, but it was too little too late.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Alcoholism, Car accident, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

4.5

 Finished reading: August 7th 2023

"Coincidences are fine in real life. But in fiction, they're bad writing."

I’ve been meaning to try his books for years now, and of course there was no way that I was going to resist the blurb of The Last Word for long. I love books with bookish angles, and what is more fascinating AND terrifying than a thriller read where an author slash killer goes after a person leaving him a one star review? And while things can be said about the plot being over the top and you definitely have to suspend your belief, I personally didn’t care because I was too busy enjoying the ride. This was exactly the dark, twisted and exhilarating read I needed! There is just something about the writing style that makes it very easy to fly through the pages, and the plot itself only increases that pace. The POVs are somehow blurred in points, and at times it takes a second before you realize who is in the spotlight; this would usually highly annoy me, but somehow in The Last Word it only added to the suspense. There are plenty of twists along the way as well, and with (at times) two contrasting POVs telling how the events happened it makes you wonder what is the real version. Again, this is usually something that would bother me, but in this case it somehow worked. Even the characters: none of them are exactly likeable, but since the main focus is on the plot and the life or death situation it's not as important. The Last Word definitely tips its toe in the horror genre though, and warnings are in place for particularly gruesome and graphic scenes as well as animal cruelty. If you think you can stomach those and like your thrillers on the dark and twisted side, I can highly recommend this story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Misogyny, Stalking, Death of parent, Gun violence, Infertility, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Bullying, Body horror, Self harm, Suicide, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts