Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson

10 reviews

midnightmarauder's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

The Jigsaw Man follows Detective Inspector Anjelica Henley as she fights to solve a string of murders in London that leave the victims dismembered. The murders are similar to murders that have happened prior, to which a man, Peter Olivier (dubbed "The Jigsaw Killer"), did the exact same thing. But, because Olivier is incarcerated at the time of the new murders, it is up to Henley to figure out who is doing the killings, and why. 

Joining her is Trainee Detective Constable Salim Ramouter. Henley, a tough and well-respected detective, isn't too fond of him initially. Yet, as time goes on, the pair become close and work well together to solve the case. 

What I liked about this book is how fleshed-out the characters were. I related a lot to Henley, as she is another person who puts up a tough exterior, but internally, is very fearful and anxious. She had a traumatic incident with Olivier at the time of his arrest, which left her with a panic disorder. The incident prevented her from working for a while, but she stayed determined to solve the crimes and despite being fearful, pushed through and did her best to stop the murders. 

Ramouter is well-written too, even though I would've liked to see more of his thought-processes when it came to solving the murders. 

Olivier is written almost too well. He is a haunting, sociopathic individual with little regard to how other people feel. Why he begins to murder people is explained briefly at the start of the book, but I would've wanted to see a bit more about his childhood and how it may have affected his mental state. 

Overall, this book was an enjoyable read. I look forward to reading the rest of the series and more from Nadine Matheson as a whole. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Murder, Medical content, Blood, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Confinement, Death, Stalking, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Dementia, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Vomit, and Sexual content

bibliofritz's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Torture, Murder, Kidnapping, and Violence

laurapaige's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

vickylousbooks's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Death of parent, Torture, Drug use, and Kidnapping

reno_percival's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Torture, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Rape, Kidnapping, Grief, Gore, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Body horror, Blood, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

day_dreaming_vampire's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Reading this book made me feel like I was reading the second one in the series.  It felt like we should already know the characters and what they'd been up to, instead we were drip fed bits and bobs of info and we never really got to know them, or even what they look like in some cases. I didn't really like any of the characters, especially Henley, some of her actions were seriously questionable.
The ending was, well, not an ending.  No doubt we'll hear more about this in another book in the series but it's doubtful I'll be reading any more.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Murder, Death, Kidnapping, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

l8yk8y's review

dark lighthearted tense

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Gore

kshertz's review

challenging 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? No

3.5

I don’t really understand why I continue to read gory books when I’m terrible with gore. I guess because I just really love mysterious books and sometimes there’s dismemberment in them. All in all it was really interesting and I couldn’t really see the ending coming which I always like in a mysterious book. But for me it was so gory that I was mostly pushing through instead of enjoying it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Torture

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

I was not a fan of how this book treated violence against women, however this was a solid piece of crime/serial killer fiction.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

ashley_books_cats_judo's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Kidnapping, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence