Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

11 reviews

zakkb's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Minor: Physical abuse

gellyreads's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

I can understand the complaints that this book spends a long time building up to the reveal of the mystery, but it didn't really bother me or feel too slow. I read this before, and I still enjoyed this, even though I remembered the twists. I'm not sure you can really have much character development or have a lot of other developments, and I wish we got more detail on how

Mike actually died

But this is overall a really entertaining book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, and Stalking

kaylashutup's review

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.25

Very slow. It feels like the entire middle of the book could have been taken out and it would have been much better. I usually still don’t mind predictable books but there was just no payoff for me :/

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Violence, Physical abuse, and Stalking

akshade's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, and Dementia

Minor: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Domestic abuse

evachristinee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Stalking, Miscarriage, Child death, and Kidnapping

navayiota's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

0.25

Τι απαίσιο βιβλίο. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Medical content, Miscarriage, Rape, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol and Car accident

mmadill227's review

emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death

kiikaridino's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Dementia

novi's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I read this in one sitting. It's so fast paced and I kept wanting to know what actually happened because right from the first page until the end, the suspense is always there. As we read more, we know that we can't trust any character in this book, not even the narrator (it uses first person pov from the main character). This book scared me a lot of the times and I didn't see the twist coming, even though it's not something very extra ordinary. But it's still good. I was scared that the ending of this book will haunt me, but thank god it didn't lol so this is not that disturbing. Even though if it did, it means it's really really good. But I still like it nevertheless.

Half of this book, we're reading the main character's journal, but it's not written in journal style, more in the novel style. Which is a bit weird since she has to write it in secret and she basically didn't have a lot of time to barely write before she sleeps and forget everything all over again, yet she wrote in novel style. I am used to writing journal entries for hours and I don't think I can do that lol. I understand why the author decides to do this, though, because if we readers read a journal version of it, we wouldn't grasp the entire situation

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Stalking, Rape, and Infidelity

Minor: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy

angelicathebookworm's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Christine is a complex, developed and easily relatable character with a mind that can be explored by any reader with ease. Watson creates and sustains a creepy atmosphere and good, fast pacing throughout and keeps the reader guessing before making any big reveals. What I also loved about this novel is that even if you do start to anticipate the ending, as I did once I started nearing the end, it really doesn’t affect your enjoyment of the novel or take away from the thrilling events that you will definitely experience at the very end. I think my favourite thing about this novel is the fact that Watson made me reflect on the way my own memory works, my own past experiences, and evoked a sense of gratefulness in me all while keeping me on the edge of my seat.

If I was to nitpick the book I’d say my only real criticism is that it’s not very realistic especially when you take into account that some of the diary entries are so long for certain days which wouldn’t be that possible due to time constraints. Not to mention the fact that Christine’s medical condition, a mixture of various different types of amnesia, is definitely more fictional than factual, and of course, questions of realism will flood your thoughts things start becoming revealed. Also, the novel builds suspense well but the ending then just gets revealed and devolves so fast you have to be careful not to miss it entirely. This type of narrative structure and style kind of irritates me as it tends to make me feel like I’ve missed the payoff I deserve after all the continuous building of anticipation.

 For more reviews like this one, check out https://angelicacastilloking.wordpress.com/ 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Confinement, Medical trauma, Violence, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Physical abuse