Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

54 reviews

greendog1200's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Vomit

ultramariikka's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

bittie_bee's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Vomit

outofthepinksky's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Cursing, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Drug use, Infidelity, and Police brutality

danley_jr's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts

macyinretrograde's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

marleens's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

For some reason I had completely missed the fact that this is a thriller instead of the horror I usually read from Stephen King. Not that I don’t enjoy thrillers, but they can be a bit hit or miss, especially police thrillers like this one turned out to be. Luckily we also got the POV of the villain of the piece, which made all the difference. If we had only stuck with Hodges, I might not have enjoyed it as much. I did miss King’s usually horror writing a bit but I had a good time with this one and might continue the series later. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Fatphobia, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

celina246's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.75

if you came here looking for a SK book because you're familiar with his work, you probably know what to expect. if you aren't - it's an excellent crime thriller, grabs you and doesn't let go til the end. but it's a veeery dark ride, full of gore and hatred and some racism and shock value (only thing stopping me from giving it a 5), so proceed with caution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Lesbophobia

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Classism

idk_indigo's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Okay, guys... hear me out but... I think the character Jerome might be black... I could be wrong though, please don't cancel me

Mr Mercedes was my first finished Stephen King novel, and I think maybe a combination of the very white author constantly using racial slurs and the very white narrator constantly saying them, just turned me off so much. I felt like Jerome could not be mentioned once in the entire book without reference to the fact that, yes, he's black. But wait, guys, it's okay that he's black cause he's applying to Harvard and Yale. Like, everyone who meets him points this out and it's constantly brought up as, like, part of his character and I genuinely don't think "Jerome" was ever alone in a sentence without "black." Like, girl... 

Sort of similar to Hodges being fat, though there weren't so many comments about weight, but like I don't think I've heard so many fat jokes in a single book before. Like, Hodges fucking hates himself and cannot even talk to his girlfriend without being like "Woe is me, I'm so fat, how could you ever love me?" Or to his neighbor Jerome without a couple self-deprecating jokes about needing to lose 50 pounds. And like how old he is, too, but then he mentions being 62 at some point and I'm like, where is the old?? I felt sort of like Hodges was meant to be a grumpy old man character-turned heartfelt fatherly figure bc of the love from his community, which we all know I love <3 Maybe this trope doesn't work too well with the genre because I was like, girl shut up, you're ugly. And fat too, apparently. Don't care. I hated his character, he drove me nuts & was hella sexist and even openly admits to not taking women seriously because they're "crazy" and women. Then at the end he

fucking has a heart attack, probs because he's so fat

The villain/antagonist/perp (not too familiar with the genre, so what's the correct term here?) was I think influenced by like Ted Bundy and other serial killer types, complete with killer Freudian mommy issues. He was very unlikable, which I guess is one thing King did right bc I am sick and tired of these characters being "undercover misunderstood good guys." 

Overall.... idk what to tell you. I'm glad I tried out a King novel. However, I believe I will stick to girly horror from now on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Suicide attempt

Minor: Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexism, Stalking, and Death of parent

raereads19's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Vomit, and Murder