Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams

5 reviews

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

---

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

jmcampbell57's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Religious bigotry

laurenleigh's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This is Stacey Abrams’ first novel published under her name (not her pen name, Selena Montgomery), and I was really excited to read it! It’s a mystery/thriller about a Supreme Court justice and political conspiracies. It’s got some House of Cards vibes, but you’re rooting for a much more moral and likable protagonist. I enjoyed it overall, but I have to say I really disliked the audiobook format here. The narrator’s style felt very affected and over dramatic to me, which was kind of a bummer. It constantly took me out of the story. It’s tricky to separate my feelings about a book vs the narration, but I’m pretty confident that I still liked the text. This would be a difficult novel to write for someone outside the legal profession or even outside of Washington. Abrams is definitely using her expertise wisely in her writing! (Is there anything she CAN’T do??) I appreciated how Abrams kept the legal content very approachable, not too opaque for a regular reader. Though I should maybe note that all my parents were/are lawyers, so I perhaps have slightly more familiarity. I also like how Abrams didn’t tie up every single loose end, but it still felt finished, not like she was leaving you hanging for a sequel. It just felt very grounded in reality, where we don’t get perfectly neat endings. If you’re into this genre, definitely give this a go and support Stacey, but maybe do the regular book rather than audio.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Violence, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Kidnapping

Minor: Car accident

jennifer_bush_73's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

The story was engaging, and the premise is very interesting. However, the writing seemed stilted. The language didn’t flow easily. She used some obscure words that threw me off kilter (or my vocabulary sucks).

I would definitely read more of Stacey Abrams’ thrillers. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Dementia, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Outing, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Xenophobia

Minor: Abandonment, Stalking, Car accident, and Vomit