Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr

6 reviews

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.0

I’m genuinely sad about giving this book 3 stars, because I felt fairly certain it was going to be a 4 star read for me when I was about halfway through. This book had a lot of promise for me - lots of female main characters, interwoven stories, multiple art heists, WWII - all the right themes and ingredients were theoretically there. I was sucked in rather early on and was enjoying watching the story unfold.
Unfortunately the last 25 percent really crashed and burned in terms of my enjoyment. The characters became true caricatures in this last quarter. We had the naive but plucky protagonist and the cartoon psychopathic villain on a collision course. The antagonist was evil for no real reason and the depths of her depravity were confusing at times. And our heroine was one of the dumbest smart characters I’ve ever read. She was the cute blonde in the horror movie who decides to go down into the basement alone when she hears something go bump in the night. 
The end only partially worked for me, though there are major plot points that are just left swirling around. 
The goods - I was fairly hooked until I wasn’t, Ellis’ character arc (especially as relates to his grandson Adam), female representation in journalism. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, and Drug use

Moderate: Cancer, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, and Medical content

Minor: Vomit and Grief

arangele's review against another edition

challenging dark informative 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

2.5

The premise was so interesting, and the beginning really grabbed me. Slowly, I got really tired of the writing style. It is not congruent with the seriousness of the themes, and that completely took me out of the experience. The dialogue is flat, and the characters have no personality when they speak. They all have the same exact voice. Even more, I found their actions hard to believe. I couldn't take them seriously. It's a shame because it seems like the research was there, and the ideas were good, but I was bored for the whole second half of the book. I couldn't wait for it to be over. I really wanted to enjoy it, but it read a bit like an annoying soap opera. Maybe it was rushed? It's an okay book, but don't expect it to be incredible (like I did).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Antisemitism, Sexual assault, Death, and Kidnapping

jenna_gilb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Genocide, Antisemitism, Murder, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Drug abuse

silverhill's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

2.5

For a mystery, this was really good to start. I liked the concept of the reporters chasing the story of a painting that had been stolen by Nazis. But the main villain was so cartoonishly evil, with a hacker henchman who could hack (and sort through) every possible piece of information about a person in a day. Even from a burner phone with an encryption app? Even a person’s food and drink preferences? Give me a break. It was ridiculous. At points this book was worthy of 4 stars, and at points less than 2.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, and Stalking

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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? Yes

4.5

I love it when historical fiction is the basis for a contemporary thriller.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Drug use, Genocide, Confinement, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual content, Stalking, War, Addiction, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship

kathyf1687's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Blood, Cancer, Gun violence, Stalking, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Terminal illness, Violence, Addiction, Antisemitism, and Self harm