Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

6 reviews

tupeloallie's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder

Minor: Hate crime, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, and Gaslighting

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

eadrianschmitz's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I don't like the way he writes about the female characters, and if you can get over the unrealistic progression of the plot, it's a pretty good story. Two minor things from the first scene that drove me crazy: Costco doesn't have bags, misuse of the term "baby mama". Can recommend audiobook. Great narrator.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

I don't like the way he writes about the female characters, and if you can get over the unrealistic progression of the plot, it's a pretty good story. Two minor things from the first scene that drove me crazy: Costco doesn't have bags, misuse of the term "baby mama". Can recommend audiobook. Great narrator.

fkshg8465's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

I love the Holly Gibney character so much, and she’s brilliant here! The trio team she supports has great chemistry. Love the intergenerational relationship between Bill, Jerome, and Holly. Her mom is a bit too much to handle, and Janey needed more story, but overall, a disgusting villain and a lot of great cat and mouse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

lillyrose97's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

melodyseestrees's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

 If there is one thing Mr. King excels at it is writing absolutely unlikable characters. Even characters that should be likeable largely have aspects that can make the reader dislike them. In some chapters this worked well and framed the event how each character saw them clearly. In other chapters the reader became enmeshed in a slog of diatribe that was a true chore to get through, even in the audiobook format. 
If you are fond of Mr. King's other works and characters you will probably like this. If you are coming in expecting a typical thriller you will not enjoy this as much. For me, despite my casual familiarity with several of King's works I found it difficult to get up to the 40% mark in the book. To the story's credit the pace does pickup upon the changing of a key character or two somewhere around the 50% mark.

The pace picks up after the death of Janey.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Incest, Racial slurs, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Fatphobia, Sexism, Car accident, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Excrement, and Vomit

There is an adult/minor relationship between Brady and his mother. He claims to have been a victim of a different adult/minor relationship during his psychological torture of Olivia.