Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

574 reviews

vavocado's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Holy crap do I love an unreliable narrator. Twists, turns, WTF moments abound. It gets weird, but that's what makes it intriguing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, and Child abuse

roxiehrt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

When you think you’ve figured this book out, you haven’t. The last quarter of the book alone is worth 5 stars. Every loose end is buttoned up and although super sad, the characters get the redemptions they deserve. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Medical content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Death, Murder, Torture, Death of parent, Child death, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal death, and Emotional abuse

civilchick's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

WOW. What a story. It’s horror for sure, with a gothic style. But also deeply emotional when some things are revealed later in the book. Catriona Ward does an expert job of weaving reality and fantasy, leaving you guessing until the very end.

(I also love the false reveals- had me thinking this was a super obvious story and then saying “WHAT!?!?” out loud when the truth was revealed). Incredible job

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Kidnapping and Medical trauma

literalreader's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

czty27's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide, Abandonment, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, and Self harm

Minor: Murder, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Torture, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

nattyyllie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow. This book is absolutely incredible. It was thrilling and enticing all the way through to the end. One of the best plot and character combinations I've read in quite some time. Highly recommend for those who aren't afraid of letting their mind wander into dark places in search of answers to this mystery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Death, Body horror, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Murder, Alcohol, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Stalking

caytiecadence's review against another edition

dark emotional relaxing tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Wow, this book was nothing like what I was expecting. I agree with those that say going into this as blind as possible is best. I knew very little outside of the synopsis and that there was a cat that was fun to read their perspective of. 

It feels wrong to call this a horror book. Ted didn't do anything wrong, having DID made his life better and worse. Giving him humanity after explaining what happened to the missing girl and other children made me want to go back and reread the whole book to see the things I bet I missed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Alcoholism

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Vomit, Death of parent, and Blood

thecryptsleeper's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Confinement, Child death, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Torture, Self harm, and Death

This book explores

disassociative identity disorder

.

kyliejade322's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicide, Addiction, Torture, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Stalking, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Animal death, Homophobia, Child abuse, Self harm, and Death of parent

kelleymiller13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I’m really torn on how to rate this book. I’m not one to put a book down and not finish it. But this book had me questioning if I was going to actually make it through it right from the start! The way it was written was really hard to read. Granted, it did get easier as I settled in and got acquainted with the writing style and got used to the writer switching from narrator point of view. However, I literally had to read that first chapter out loud to help me try to make sense of it and to keep myself going. And even still, so many of the chapters didn’t make sense and things didn’t tie together…until close to the end. But it trudged on. But am I glad I persisted and finished? Yes - I was a really good story told from an interesting point of view, or should I say “points of view” since there are multiple characters telling the story. However, is it one of those books that is an easy or light read that you can’t put down? No. Or one that I would put on my “must read” list when recommending to friends. Again, no. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Kidnapping