Reviews tagging 'Violence'

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

40 reviews

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

nkg202's review against another edition

challenging 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Death of parent, and Infidelity

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

jsingh'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

It's an interesting read. It's definitely not the worst thriller I ever read, but it's pretty predictable. I think Downing has talent, but I feel like this book was pretty lukewarm. Again, not badly written, but a little predictable.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

rainstormdragon's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Murder, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Sexual content, Gun violence, Gore, Gaslighting, and Blood

ireadinbed's review

dark 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

3.5

So I saw 99.9% of the big twists coming a mile away. Which isn't what I like in a thriller tbh. I like to figure it out slowly. 

Literally one line was all I didn't predict. 

That said I enjoyed watching it slowly dawn on the extremely ridiculous main character that he had made big mistakes and was in serious danger. It felt like every chapter past a certain point was just another nail in the coffin. Fun to unravel. 

 
He was really unlikable and not in a fun way so I didn't exactly feel bad for him, even if I couldn't root for this particular woman's wrongs. 

His wife wasn't even really a person. She was a weird obvious murderer. Such a minimal personality beyond control freak. And I like control freaks! 

That said he felt unbelievably dense. 

Overall was hooked in and didn't want to stop reading but also just felt really disappointed in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Death, Vomit, and Violence

Minor: Torture

britah's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Suicide, and Blood

moonwaterotter's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

I predicted the twists which took some of the fun out of it, but that’s my own fault for trying to solve the book as I read it. This is the second of Downing’s that I’ve read, and she writes from the perspective of the worst men i s2g.
All said, I did mostly enjoy it. I had an actually wtf moment halfway through the book and it was the biggest highlight for me.
And now here’s a list of my thoughts that is FULL of spoilers.

I almost DNF’d right off the bat when he first pretends to be “deaf Tobias” and ultimately realized that judging the moral compass of a serial killer is a stupid place to draw a line. But I still didn’t like that as an angle.
I immediately knew that Millicent was the “evil sister” growing up and waiting for the main character to realize that was absolutely agonizing.
I literally said “what the f-uck” out loud whenever they announced that Trista killed herself. Like at this point, I thought maybe she had helped Owen in the past (and maybe she did honestly who knows) but that’s not what I was expecting.
I also figured out Millicent was poisoning Jenna almost immediately. I thought the book was going to climax with Millicent saying she had kidnapped and killed all of the women because she was an Owen fan-girl and that she and Owen were going to murder Jenna together or something.
I thought Kekona was going to be the third victim and the cops were going to catch him at her house or something. I also thought the descriptions of Kekona were a bit strange and didn’t really sit right with me. (As well as the description of Trista’s sister at the funeral.)
I think it’s pretty fucked that the main character never tells Andy that he KNOWS WHY his wife killed herself.
The ending is cheeky but I wish they both died, not just Millicent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Kidnapping, Cursing, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Stalking, Torture, Car accident, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

nirellis's review against another edition

Tbh I got bored. I’m not an avid thriller reader so mb this just wasn’t my book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Toxic relationship and Violence