Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Last Word by Taylor Adams

8 reviews

miasarice's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

it felt like something gus and january from beach read would’ve co-written (in the best way possible)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Violence, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping and Confinement

Minor: Gun violence, Car accident, Child death, and Infertility

missgrangerr's review

adventurous challenging 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

3.0

I adore Taylor Adams. Having read most of his books, this one I have to admit isn't my favorite but it is still very well told and plotted. Fans of Adams who are looking for gore, violence, and cat and mouse games will be happy with this read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Gore, Death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Blood, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Mental illness, Gun violence, and Self harm

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

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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

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.

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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. 

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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

janbee's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Stalking, Blood, Child death, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Murder

toofondofbooks_'s review

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Yoooo this was such an out of pocket thriller. Once I got into it I was properly hooked. Something is keeping me from giving it 5 stars but to say anything about it would be too spoiler-y. It was pretty solid though and came with the "holy shit" moments that I expect from Taylor Adams after reading No Exit years ago.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Blood, Body shaming, Death of parent, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Stalking

clairebonney's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis