Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

98 reviews

secre's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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

1.75

If you've ever read a Karin Slaughter book, you will know before starting that they aren't for the faint of heart. Pretty Girls is no exception, although the first half is actually pretty darn tame. Slaughter makes up for it and then some in the latter half of the novel though. So yeah, if you are wary of blood, gore, rape, torture, sexual assault, trauma etc, then I firmly and steadfastly recommend avoiding this book. I'd avoid Slaughter's entire catalogue in honesty.

In the present you have Claire and Lydia, two sisters living very different lives. In the past you have their sister, abducted and never found more than two decades previous. But when Claire's husband is murdered seemingly randomly, Claire makes discoveries that show her husband in a very different light. Her discovery of a series of torture porn videos bare a shocking similarity to a recent missing girl, but bring back memories of her own sisters disappearance all that time ago. The two sisters re-connect after the funeral, although the fact that Lydia is in the process of gleefully urinating on the fresh grave makes for a slightly awkward reunion. The relationship between them is strained, but their connection isn't something that can be easily dismissed.

I have to admit, I felt the first half of the novel was significantly better than the second half. It opens with a murder and then it's a slow build up of information and evidence. It builds up well and I was fascinated by the narrative and whilst the characters weren't always likeable, they were at least very believable. But around the 50% mark it... loses it's way. It becomes ridiculously unrealistic, the torture porn is ramped up to 120 for no real reason or benefit and I found myself just rolling my eyes. It just became laughable. To begin with the villains of the piece seem all too possibly real. By the end, they are cartoonishly caricatured.

All in all, this was a disappointment. I was expecting a certain level of blood and gore, so my low rating isn't due to that. It is however due in part to how pointless said blood, gore and torture porn was; it added little to noting to the narrative. It's also due to how unbelievably stupid the plot gets in the latter half, how convoluted yet predictable and how cartoonish the villains become. Not Slaughter's best work by a mile. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Child abuse, Rape, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Child death

paperkindle's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.0

2024 re read

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I HAVE REACHED MY READING CHALLENGE OF 40 BOOKS WOOOHOOOO! This book was intense, but not as intense I hoped it would be. The murderer in this book, I hope no one will ever have to interfere with such a horrible person as that person. Gave me the chills. Three stars are enough for this book. It was not bad but also not really good. I read the last 100 pages really fast because I wanted to know what was going on and I think many people will have that with this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, Murder, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Body horror, Sexual violence, Addiction, Child death, Pedophilia, Grief, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual assault, Gore, and Stalking

Moderate: Suicide

riella_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

 This was so disturbing and creepy but in the best way. I read this relatively fast compared to how big the book is. The only reason I knocked a half star is because I didn't understand what made Julia and her family so special. I expected to find out, but in less I missed something it was never explained why. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Bullying, Excrement, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Body shaming, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Addiction, Child death, Suicide, Gun violence, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, and Vomit

carolynbruce's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, Gaslighting, Stalking, Violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Toxic relationship

zianna_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Addiction, Murder, Alcohol, Body horror, Pedophilia, Torture, Death, and Gore

saraavowlerr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Very, very gory. Check trigger warnings. I thought it was kind of predictable but I loved the sister relationship.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Rape, Suicide, Vomit, Bullying, Confinement, Grief, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Stalking, and Torture

the_shelf_elf's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Pedophilia

corpseparty's review

dark emotional sad tense

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Drug use, Body horror, Death of parent, Murder, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Torture

natashaahmed's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

4.75

This is one of the creepiest and explicit books I’ve ever read. Points where I was so uncomfortable that I was nauseous. Loooong list of content warnings so do your research before you read this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Murder, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Vomit, Torture, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Grief

mellowreading's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Grief, Gore, Excrement, Rape, Murder, Torture, Pedophilia, Violence, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual assault, Sexism, Police brutality, Misogyny, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, and Blood