Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Someone Is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong

5 reviews

brandilovesbooks's review

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Someone is Always Watching was a thrilling read.  Blithe's friend starts freaking out about cameras and people watching her.  Something happens, but Blithe only knows she got a concussion from hitting her head on a sink in the bathroom.  Odd delusions start to plague her, although she writes them off as a concussion symptom.

She receives an anonymous email telling her that someone she knows is a murderer.

Suddenly, Blithe has more questions than answers.  She  and her friends are on a mission to get their answers.

But they aren't prepared for what they are about to learn.

A thriller and a mystery.  Worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

btwnprintedpgs's review

mysterious tense 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Death, Murder, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Body shaming, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Suicide, Drug use, and Death of parent

TW: forced captivity

roshanreads's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the eARC of this book! 

I picked this book up, and it pulled me in almost immediately. I was flying through the pages to get more information and find out who was behind everything. I ended up giving this book four stars and would definitely recommend it. 

There are some spoilers after this point. 

The book starts with an introduction to the dynamic between Tucker and Blythe that define most of their interactions for the rest of the book, and then we’re straight into the action. Things start getting weird when one of Blythe’s friends seems to suffer what people refer to as everything from a mental health episode to a psychotic break, becoming paranoid about the school’s security cameras and talking about how her parents aren’t truly her parents. It peaks when Gabi murders the vice principal of the school with Blythe watching, before hitting Blythe in the head with the same trophy and disappearing. This sets off a whole chain of events that leads Blythe, Tucker, and Tanya to uncover the answers behind why they, and some of the people around them, are having strange memories and dreams. 

I thought the way we’re introduced to what’s happening was great. There wasn’t any waiting around while small, strange things happened. The first sign that something was wrong was everything going terribly wrong in one go. It only gets more out of hand from there, but Kelley Armstrong wrote it in a way where not a single discovery seemed like it had come out of nowhere. Even a comment from a side character that I initially brushed off ended up being incredibly important to the plot and the big reveal at the end of the book. 

Despite the plot ending up very close to literal brainwashing territory, I just accepted everything because it felt like it fit into the natural progression of the story.

The only reason I gave this book four stars instead of five was that the end felt like it just appeared out of nowhere, including what felt like a sudden change from “the adults won’t help us” to “the adults are sorting everything out now”, which was kind of weird to put in the last chapter. I was kind of looking forward to an evil corporation messing with people’s heads. On top of that, the way the suspense of a reveal was dragged out over an entire section or chapter, which I wasn’t a fan of, and it started to grate on me after the first time it happened. Especially when we got towards the end.

All in all, if you’re a fan of Karen M McManus with a bit of Phoenix Files, I would recommend this book to you. It was a fairly quick read with action from the very beginning and it continues pretty consistently right until the end. I think it’s a book that will hold up to rereads, especially since I was flying through it so quickly that I probably missed a few details that I’ll find next time. This was a super fun read, and I’m super glad I got to read it before it came out. I will probably be talking about it for a while in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt

markedwithanm's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Blood, Child death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, and Sexual assault

theoceanrose's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gaslighting, Blood, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Murder and Gun violence

Minor: Suicide