Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Lake by Natasha Preston

16 reviews

julells's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

I really loved the idea of the book and it was definitely okayish written. However the entire plot turned out to be rather irrational and the ending was just really disappointing to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book is fine for a YA thriller and it reads very YA. There’s mystery and best friends with a secret and budding romances and new friends, all rolled up in a traditional summer camp setting. The story is a little slow to start as it takes its time establishing the characters’ backstories and evolving relationships. There are creepy sightings and hints about a past tragedy woven throughout the first couple of weeks as campers and their counselors arrive and get settled into the day-to-day camp activities.

Mid-point the pace picks up with more action and a various suspicious behavior occurring that causes the main character and narrator, Esme, to question who she can trust. The final act takes the reader down a dark and winding path, and for me, it didn’t entirely add up that the consequences for some of the characters was rightfully deserved. I liked the ending and while it probably wouldn’t hold up in the real world, it was calculated and twisted enough to fit the psyche of the culprit who engineered the events.

I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narration by Lillie Ricciardi. Her voice is clear and she captured the youthful naïveté and banter of the teenage characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Blood

rene_reads02's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Animal cruelty, Violence, Cursing, Death, Animal death, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Gaslighting

kat_rowlen's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

A bit slow in the beginning but definitely picks up. The “train of thought” writing style took some getting used to. This was definitely a page turner 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Child death

vj_thompson's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

If you can get through the terrible dialogue and the child-like behavior, I think it’s worth finding out how the books ends. The. Ending. Is. Crazy!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Animal death, and Gore

Moderate: Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Death, and Bullying

Minor: Kidnapping and Car accident

featherinthewind's review against another edition

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

4.5

do not read this if you want a decisive answer and ending because what the hell. I will say this book is much better than her other ones but I did notice it had the same issues as others. For one, there are so many characters to keep track of and only a few really matter. I couldn’t keep everyone straight and only started to match names to descriptions half way through. The story was strong and kept its edge and suspense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Stalking, Animal death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

jaidlyn_7's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, Gore, Animal death, Death, and Gun violence

arthomas's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, Child abuse, Car accident, Bullying, Torture, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Murder, and Toxic relationship

mayahall56's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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

3.75

this book was going to be a 3.25 stars until i got to the end. the ending is such a twist that I did not see coming and really made the book for me. overall I thought the beginning chapters were slow, as they tease to a certain major event that the reader does not truly uncover until 200 pages after the fact. 

the reveal of lillian very early in the book was some what confusing becuase the reader was just given a name with no other information. i did not really like how we were given bits and pieces of the story and only gor the full thing at the very end. i know what the two girls did was horrible, but from the way it was hyped on somehow i thought it would almost be something worse. i think the ending was a tad rushed, but i did appreciate an intresting ending to the story as opposed to just “ the bad guy was dead and everything was happy”. overall a decent book, probably would not read again but i’m looking forward to exploring more by the author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Gun violence

carterimln's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, and Animal death

Minor: Car accident