Reviews tagging 'Torture'

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

58 reviews

shbooks23's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, and Suicide

ramreadsagain's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

A solid thriller, manages to bring something fresh to the genre, and not feel “tropey”. I also liked how the violence towards women was never a main part of the book, unlike with some thrillers that often have a lot of gory detail. 

Great twists and a good page turner. Definitely recommend for fans of the genre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Torture, Blood, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Violence

Minor: Vomit, Suicide, and Gun violence

cbirv's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Self harm, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Suicide, Violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Death

dads2tired's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Torture

minimicropup's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

1.0

I listened to the audiobook and the first bit was great - I was expecting it to continue where…

this couple starts off at super toxic codependent relationship vibes where you hate them but can’t look away as the husband scouts out vulnerable women and the wife kills them out of a mish-mashed motive of personality disordered revenge/rage/past trauma and they get away with it by copycat murdering

. Instead it was one of the most child-centric parenting struggle motif books I’ve ever read. Like a weird slowly evolving custody battle…It’s kind of impressive, that someone could write a serial killer duo turned spousal revenge story into a drama about the struggle of parents who probably don’t even want kids but have them now so they over-compensate and resent. That’s my take on it at least. Somehow this story was so boring, I kept waiting for the good parts to morph into something but it didn’t and there was a bit of villain monologue at the end. Mid book felt like a lot of Rory being into video games, bribing his dad, and sucking at school, and Jenna being too dense to read the room that no one cares about her sports points. Oh and the parents are so focused on hiding their serial killer lifestyle from their children that the kids are written as if they’re their landlord/boss/religious deity in a way. Sorry, it just wasn’t for me but I thought the premise was unique

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Torture

Moderate: Infidelity and Toxic relationship

Minor: Bullying and Domestic abuse

jaydub0221's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Stalking

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Torture, and Gore

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Car accident, Dementia, Self harm, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Vomit, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

madluck's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Lost half a star because it was slow going for my liking and because I was spoiled by

the review on the front cover: “dexter meets gone girl”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Torture, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Stalking

katiea714's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Torture, Death, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Deadnaming, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Bullying, Alcohol, Car accident, Chronic illness, Classism, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol and Vomit

alirya's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

The only parts I really enjoyed were the ones that were really predictable 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Murder

corpseparty's review against another edition

4.5

A thrilling read, although every twist is predictable

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Stalking, Self harm, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, and Kidnapping