Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay

53 reviews

jessthemess8112's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I really enjoyed this book, but the ending was a bit anticlimactic. The author spent this whole book building and building to this big whodunit mystery, and the big reveal left a lot to be desired and a lot of unanswered questions.  Whatever happened to Mr. Nirvana, and why was he even mentioned except to throw you off? Did anything happen to Arpeggio and the other cop for leaving a major detail out of a report? Did Chris get any compensation for the fact that his brother was wrongly accused for 15 years? And of course, how did Steadman convince straight and narrow religious freaked family Katie to even get involved in the first place?  I rounded up to 3 stars because I enjoyed the mystery, but the unanswered questions kind of ruined it for me.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Violence, Murder, Death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicide, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

jpfortmiller's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child abuse

jocelynmwagner's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Sexual violence

ransomrayne's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Murder and Physical abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

sgrifgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Death

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Child abuse, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Stalking and Suicide

chloebear21's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Child abuse

Minor: Suicide

dodgeremerson's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

Not the worst book, but it was very predictable. I called the killer from their introduction, as well as the other deaths that we discover early on. Kind of disappointing.

Also...

I am really frustrated that the promising young brown kid was killed off. He is the only death outside of the murders, and the only death "on the page." Why is the only POC mentioned the only death? Granted, it was clear he was going to die from the moment Finlay introducedhis mother with that "take care of my boy" line. But it is still irritating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Blood, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, and Child abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Grief, and Violence

Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Abortion, Bullying, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death of parent, Addiction, and Police brutality

mizmanderz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Stalking, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Drug abuse

full_kay's review against another edition

emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

samreadsstuff's review against another edition

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

3.0

The pacing was really odd to me, the first bit felt a bit slow but then the ending felt so rushed and underdeveloped. So many loose threads were left hanging only to be basically waved aside in the epilogue. 

The characters also felt very one dimensional to me and I think the ending would have been much more rewarding if the characters and their relationships with one another were more fleshed out. On a related note, the victims are barely people… I really enjoyed the first chapter which felt like it humanized them, but then after that they are barely acknowledged (especially the victims of the second murder). 

All in all not bad, but I think there was a lot of room to be better. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse and Physical abuse