Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams

28 reviews

katekatiekait's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Addiction

Moderate: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug abuse

Minor: Islamophobia, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

lucyatoz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams was a read that surprised me and was a really intriguing political and legal thriller that felt like it could have been from a real Presidential term in recent history. 

Avery Keene is a law clerk to Justice Howard Wynn, who is often the deciding Jurist on a split Supreme Court. When he falls into a coma, Avery finds that she is the one who the Justice haw decided has his life in her hands, above those of his wife, who he is divorcing, and estranged son, who had been in the Navy, working intelligence.   

As her world quickly spirals, can Avery solve the puzzle pieces that leaves a bread crumb trail only she seems to see, save justice and bring down the heart of government in one fell swoop...

I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on cloudLibrary. I read this for prompt 45, chapter headings have dates, for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2024.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Violence

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.25

This was a book that was recommended to me by someone at my local library. It's something like a political, police procedural, bequest-mystery, sci-fi? But unfortunately I don't think it does those things very well. The book rates ok, and seems to have been received well, but I can see why publishers weren't keen to take it the first couple of times she submitted it for publication.

I felt like the dialogue was middling to bad. There was a lot of exposition to the ignorant characters in the room that could have been done better. Perhaps I'm a stylistic snob, but the one line about Americans being a dichotomy of tech leaders whose people are also anti-academic, really rang throughout the entire book. An expert commenting that they found something interesting is invariably followed by the room asking for a translation for those who don't have a degree.

A major theme that is wallowed in, is tech being used for military purposes. This is specifically applied to genetics research (a loaded topic in Christian America), while deftly dodging the point that most of USAs technological advances have been made due to military funding. The idea that genetically heritable illnesses could be treated with gene therapy is not a new one to me, nor is the idea that similar techniques could be used for eugenics. 

Poverty and addiction also seem to be a stereotype in this. It's all a bit of a lumbering shambles. If someone tells you their alias is Wilma, isn't anyone over the age of 30 going to guess their real name is Betty? This book feels like it's trying to be smart, but isn't very. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Chronic illness, Confinement, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Classism, Gun violence, Dementia, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Mental illness, Islamophobia, and Pandemic/Epidemic

atamano's review against another edition

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Islamophobia, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Medical content, Gun violence, Murder, Terminal illness, and Violence

hmetwade's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Alcoholism, Gore, Hate crime, Car accident, Medical content, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Stalking, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Genocide

eleasereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Islamophobia, Death, and Gun violence

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, War, Death, Racism, Violence, Confinement, Gun violence, Death of parent, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Grief, Murder, Hate crime, Addiction, and Misogyny

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This was a fun and fast-paced political thriller with a puzzle solving/scavenger hunt aspect that I really liked. The politics went a little over my head, but were super fascinating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Islamophobia, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Death, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Car accident and Death of parent

mnatale100's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Addiction, Kidnapping, Medical content, Drug use, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Islamophobia, Genocide, and Vomit

Minor: Death of parent, Car accident, Cursing, and Classism

waterwolves's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Kidnapping, Stalking, Addiction, Violence, and Terminal illness