Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Jackal by Erin E. Adams

28 reviews

roxanne_blythe's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

I love this book for all of the commentary that it makes about race,  gender, and relationships. 


This book is about a bunch of black girls that go missing in the woods. And it’s very interesting that this town. nobody talks about the fact that so many black girls have gone missing in the woods. It gets swept under the rug.

And as Liz is trying to uncover the lore of the town, it becomes supernatural???

Like I knew that there was someone doing this, but also a hinted at a supernatural being in Liz’s dreams.

I still don’t understand the symbolism of a shadow being taking the souls of black women. Like the way, I understood it was that these girls black girls in general or creators of the culture. That wouldn’t be an American culture without the contributions of black women. And how people just take and take and take and from black women until there’s nothing left.

That’s the way I interpreted it, I don’t really understand why she picked a jackal of all creatures. Also, Anubis? Don’t know where that’s coming from. Like one of the girls and her mom had a fascination with ancient Egyptian history, so maybe that’s where it came from??

Honestly, everybody in this town is a suspect all white people were suspicious to me. I did think Nick and  his  father had to do with it. And then I realize Doug had something to do with it when it was revealed by Kerstyn, his wife that his father lost a job at a steel mill, and I was had a book started.

Chris also a suspicious to me but he turned out to be innocent. Actually I take that back. Nobody in this town is inside the fact that everybody was complacent in the kidnapping and murder of these girls. Pisses me off and it’s actually really upsetting because this happened in real life.

I think we’re the book kind of lost me was once Lucy was revealed so this shadow being existed since the 1920s, but they didn’t actually start taking girls until 1985. What didn’t really make sense to me was if Lucy was a black girl or not because her narrative was giving very much white girl…  or I could just be Jack but I’m reading as a white woman.

I can’t really give this book a rating just yet but I did really enjoy it. I think I kind of lost the plot. When’s Lucy was revealed, and we found Caroline.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal cruelty, Racism, and Animal death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

clarkg's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Overall, I found this book to be a pretty compelling thriller with a decent twist ending. It's explorations or race, class, gender, and the geography and topography of the land were unlike anything I have read before and I valued Erin Adams' unique creative vision. That said, some moments felt heavy-handed and trope-y, which took me out of it a bit. Even with that caveat, I would still recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Violence, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Stalking, Child death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Confinement, Excrement, Sexual assault, Vomit, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Suicide, Grief, and Sexual content

carolynkwolff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Child death, Classism, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Sexual content and Sexual violence

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Police brutality and Bullying

Minor: Rape

theboricuabookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

A gripping and intense (semi-paranormal) thriller that leaves me just a little wary of forests now. The book ends masterfully illustrating a point that Liz was trying to argue for the entire book: the world only cares and believes when the bad things happens to the white women even when the Black women have been the primary - and sometimes only - victims. Throughout the entire book, my suspects kept jumping and that is a credit to Adams ability to make us - and Liz - trust in different people every time. I'm not a thriller person much at all but Jackal is certainly one I will recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racism, and Animal death

Moderate: Kidnapping and Child abuse

Minor: Vomit, Rape, and Violence

storyofmaryam's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

After reading the author's not it was really seeing how the life of the author heavily inspired the setting of the story. i learned a lot about Appalachian history from the story and a reminder of how class and race are used by wealthy elites to maintain control. The main theme was the struggles, tension and violence that manifest from white working class communities against black families how structures of oppression stoke and encourage it. I'm not too keen on thrillers so I would say the third act wasn't as satisfying but overall an informative read and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Kidnapping, Murder, Child abuse, and Child death

goferreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This book made me think in ways I wasn't expecting.  I'd love to read more by this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Sexual assault and Child abuse

juliatindell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Jackal was an incredible book. A horror story with a mystery that kept me on edge and a message at the heart of it I won’t soon forget. Highly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Child abuse, Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexual violence

The mentions of child sexual assault are brief and not very detailed but are relatively frequent.

stephanielee's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Animal death, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Blood, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Child abuse

jaymebeetus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Grief, Racism, Classism, Hate crime, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Mental illness

Minor: Rape, Child abuse, and Pedophilia