Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

32 reviews

soobooksalot's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Just Like Home is an already-creepy story made even moreso when read in the dark at night!
I went in a bit blind to this one (and am going to leave you that way too) and ended up loving it. So, so eerie and uncomfortable. The ending didn't completely land for me but the road getting there was worth the read.
Beware of what's under the bed and in the basement.
Horror fans, crack open a lemonade and dive in - recommended!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Kidnapping

rtaire's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Death, and Confinement

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Terminal illness

curiouslylem's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I was extremely excited for this book when I read the summary and saw the beautiful cover! It didn’t disappoint, but man did it took a while for things to speed up. 

This gothic thriller is a slow burn filled with beautiful, detailed descriptions and suspense galore. The plot follows Vera, daughter of serial killer Francis Crowder. Vera’s relationship with her parents is complicated, but her relationship with the Crowder House is even more so. 

If you pick up this book, get ready for some thrilling descriptions, tense situations, and a plot twist that’s unique & unexpected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

cjblates's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Gore, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

bambooboy's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

A meditation on monsters and the nature of evil. What makes a monster? And how do we truly know when we are confronted with one? This is a book about (un)conditional love, dysfunctional relationships, and the evil we all try to push down within us. It’s about the things we do to try to be loved, especially when we don’t really know what love is supposed to look like. 

This is a book about monsters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Grief, Torture, Blood, Death, Murder, Emotional abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Self harm, Vomit, Child abuse, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Mental illness, and Gore

Minor: Bullying

vaguely_pink's review

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Grief, Mental illness, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Cursing, and Kidnapping

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, and Medical content

cantfindmybookmark's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Terminal illness, and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse

sunnyjreads's review

dark sad medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

carissa230's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

3.25

Vera is called him to the bedside of her dying mother. When Vera gets there her memories go back in time. Vera always loved her father the most and was only tolerated by her mom. Vera was much like her father in many ways. She craved the closeness of the house and the darkness it brought out in her mind. Will Vera escape her past or does she even want to? 

The book was spooky, but the ending didn’t pack as much punch as I’d like. I don’t mind an ambiguous ending, but this one seemed unnecessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Gore, and Kidnapping

delphine_'s review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

It took me some time to get into it but once I was, I pulled an all-nighter to finish it. Once things started together it only made the mystery deeper and I wanted to know.

Things were slowly unveiled and reveal after reveal and detail after detail were not obvious (to me) or what I tentatively expected. It was a slow, delightfully tortuous pace of uncovering things. I’m tempted to give this a reread as the further you go the more a light is shown on other parts of the book.

Finally, the writing was really good but most of all the horror was really effectively written, for the most part. The descriptions struck home and worked to create incredibly spooky pictures and I actually felt uneasy reading through it, properly tense and scared, which seldom happens.

I’m rating it 3.75 which I still think is really good, partly because it didn’t when the descriptions were a little less good it was a bit hard to get back into it, and also because I think a little more time could have been spent on exploring some things. I might raise it later though.

VERY effective at conveying heartbreak and aches of needing to be loved and do right.
 
The author’s acknowledgments struck home, too. I will most likely be reading more of their work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Terminal illness, Death, Torture, Murder, Blood, Gore, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Vomit and Physical abuse