Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

99 reviews

twigtwill's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Eating disorder, Gun violence, Torture, and Classism

Minor: Rape

kirsty_irwin's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape and Mass/school shootings

jj_whatsherface's review

dark funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

any book containing the phrase "Tommy Cox, defend us in battle," is an automatic win.

And then defeating the devil with a soda can, an eighties song, and the power of love is just the cherry on top.

Beautiful book, perfect cast, made me feel both happy and a little disgusted at the same time. A beautiful encapsulation of the 80s satanic panic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Rape, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Religious bigotry, and Car accident

arthomas's review

adventurous challenging 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

4.25

This horror story was the perfect way to transition from summer to fall reading. It really felt like an 80s movie and the detail painted a pretty vivid picture of the decade. Some sections of this book were particularly gruesome and made my skin crawl and there are definitely a lot of trigger warnings! Even though I knew what direction the book was going in, I was still surprised with what happened along the way. Bonus points for making me cry in the last 3 pages! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

hxlleann's review

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Excrement, Mass/school shootings, and Alcohol

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

This was definitely more of a feel  good horror than I was expecting, and the ending fully made me cry. I liked the pacing and was rooting for Abby throughout.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

haileyhardcover's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Not my favorite Hendrix, but a really good read nonetheless. The middle of this one kind of lagged for me. Things really ramp up in the final third, though, and I really enjoyed it from that point on. It’s gruesome and sad and yet also heartwarming? I may or may not have teared up while reading the last few paragraphs (I did). 

Very happy to give this book a permanent home on my shelves! Also can we talk about the cover?! Stunning. It makes me think of IT, probably because of the balloons. I love it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

glorifyed's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

themichellegray's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

I wasn't anticipating a book paying homage to the 80's while being inundated with body horror, religious bigotry, and racism to make me cry but here we are.

Grady Hendrix's writing gripped me from the first page and each multi-faceted character intrigued me until the very end. While I was waiting for a big twist for the majority of this story, I appreciated the ending so much more than anything my imagination could conjure up.

At the end of the day, this was a story about the strength of genuine friendship and how it can stand the test of time. If you can tolerate the trigger warnings I highly recommend picking this up during the spooky season!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Drug use and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

celery's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism