Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

70 reviews

hailey_alexis's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

4.0

I’ve heard good things about Stephen King’s new book Holly, thought it would be best to go back to the beginning. The points of view, ideas and some language feels a little dated even if it’s just from 2014. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

crystal689's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

yodamordecai's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a nice easy read. The last 50 pages were some of the most tense and enthralling I have ever read, which  bumped this up from a solid 3.5 to a 4.5. There is some stuff that doesn’t really make sense, like why is this seventeen year old with a healthy social life spending so much time with his elderly neighbor? Stephen King also doesn’t really understand computers and it show. If you can overlook some of that stuff, you’ll have a really good time with this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Incest, Racial slurs, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Sexual content

nightstitch96's review

dark medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, and Medical trauma

readerofdafuk's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

I'm always a stephen king fan, but this is the first crime novel I've read of his that wasn't tied to anything really supernatural. Wow am I blown away. I was so tense and terrified over what was gonna happen next. Like I was able to guess what some of the plot foreshadowing stuff was but then I would be forced to read my worse fears come to life. It's dark, gritty, horrifying, a brilliant cat/mouse game by a smart but pathetic man that felt like a crime drama episode. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Incest and Suicide attempt

thematicaudience's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

One of my absolute favorites of Stephen Kings novels, especially due to its introduction of one of my favorite characters of his, Holly Gibney. Not only that, but the mass murderer is very well written, and realistically at that. Not to mention how many twist and turns kept me engaged and loving every second of the chase.

That being said, there were a couple too many slurs being thrown around by Brady Hartsfield for personal comfort, even though they had purpose in showing his character, especially aimed at poc throughout, and disabled people later on in the novel. Holly Gibney also does not show up until about 2/3rds of the novel is done, and female love interest leading up to her arrival I did not find nearly as remarkable. Her character was bland and while I was surprised by her sudden death, I could not say I was necessarily upset by it.

 
I also am in general not a fan of sex scenes, and the ones in this were particularly hard to sit through, though skimming helped, however that may be personal preference, and they at least served a purpose.
However, ultimately, the whole thing was incredibly enjoyable and a favorite of mine. Definitely a great start to a trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Almost all horrific acts, ableism, racism, etc are done by the main antagonist or those related to him, though there are minor instances of ableism and fatphobia put forward by who we are rooting for.

westernsunshine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Incest, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, and Death of parent

mahy27's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Body shaming and Child death

sgordon00's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

it took me a while to finish because the first part started out so slow to build the world we were in. crazy for stephen king to use the n word the way he did tho lmao

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Stalking, and Death of parent

bookmarkedbyal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder