Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Die verschwundenen Studentinnen by Alex Michaelides

77 reviews

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

This was so entertaining! 
Honestly, it was just vibes like nothing was happening, but a lot was happening and I was interested the whole time if that makes sense. I really liked the character‘s and the little dash of a romance. I did not see that ending coming like at all I was actually shocked , I don’t know this was really entertaining and fun it’s not the best mystery. I feel like but I wasn’t trying too hard to guess and I didn’t guess. I think this is my first like dark academia book and I ate it up. I’m excited to read the silent patient now because I saw those little Easter eggs about it. When I was reading, I actually had to stop and like scream a little and because I was like there’s no way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

joscelynhe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? No

4.0

Fun, mysterious story that has a great twist that I actually wasn’t expecting. Loved how Michaelides interwove Greek myths into the story. If you’re into dark academia, this book does it perfectly. I’m not sure if it’ll be the type of book that I’ll remember vividly in a year or so, but it was definitely fun to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

lelalu's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

trippalli's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

2.5

A dark academia murder mystery... Revenge and vendettas, childhood  abuse back stories..Very dark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

miggyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

syinhui's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.25

I picked up this book for the dark academia vibes along with the expectation that it would be as good as The Silent Patient, but this one turned out to be a downer. I find the plot twist at the end awful. The red herrings weren’t used as effectively as they could have been, which left a lot of loose ends and plot holes that will never be resolved. The plot twist, for what it’s worth, was indeed… unexpected. I had three people in mind for the identity of the second POV; all would make better and more plausible killer. None made it, to my dismay. It’s disappointing how such a reveal seemed to have been pulled out of nowhere. 

I don’t buy at all the part where Theo said Zoe is merely a proxy and controlled by

Sebastian

the whole time, somehow making her inculpable of her actions. This kind of unsettled me because as a psychiatrist, shouldn’t he know better? She may have been a victim but she’s also old enough to know right from wrong. Like wtf. 

Zoe suddenly going unhinged and murderous in front of Marianna feels so random. Fred following her and for some reason knowing she’ll be in danger is just convenient.

 

I think I would’ve even preferred it if Fred and Fosca were actually the secret lovers. Fred, contrary to his clumsy and boyish demeanor (the picture of him with a dog though – one of those frustrating red herrings) as the real cold-blooded murderer and Fosca as an accomplice. Both seem to have had unhappy childhoods. Turning out to be monsters themselves, like their own fathers, killing young women as a means to channel their hate as well as their desire for the love of their mothers. Sounds like classic abused/neglected-child-turned-predatory behaviors. Cliché, but at least the motive is there. Using the story of Persephone, the cult of maidens, and Greek tragedies as a backdrop.. Fred eventually betraying Fosca after finding out he’s sleeping with the girls. Uses him as a scapegoat, frames him up to take the fall. Fosca’s demise (better at the hands of Marianna or Zoe) or arrest would be an opportunity to further explore the themes of grief, regret, loss and longing. Not to mention, a potential parallel to Tennyson and Hallam. Now that I think about it, this could be a good BL fanfiction idea. 

I could see Zoe as a total nutcase. Still sticking with the plan to frame up her professor. She’s suspicious from the very start and I wouldn’t mind if the second pov was actually her alternate personality/identity. With a little tweaking, it would probably make sense. Better than a kid having romantic and sexual relations with a deranged man twice her age.

 

Me trying to make sense of Sebastian’s role as Hades?? and how ridiculous and unbelievable it is: 
"Oh, I’ve got an idea for the twist! What if we make someone who has no established motivation so far whatsoever our mysterious killer?? Remember how I’ve repeatedly alluded to the story of the Maiden, Persephone? That’s the central focus. Not those characters who I already hinted to have daddy/mummy issues. Nooo! Everything else is a mere diversion. The goal is not to weave clues together but to have readers think in retrospect. For what could be more effective than the dead? The least harmless character in the story. Plus, this serves as a sort of divine punishment or justice, y’know. I bet no one would see that coming."

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, and Stalking

Minor: Confinement, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Abandonment

its_erin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

2.25

A decent mystery and an easy read, but I can't say that I truly enjoyed it. I personally didn't connect to the main character and didn't find any of the other characters particularly likeable - which made it more difficult to be invested.

That being said, there were some interesting plot weaved in, such as the threads of Greek tragedy. But that's all they were, threads. Threads that, by the end of the book, you find didn't weave together anything of import.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Abandonment

beeper's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

Really enjoyed the first 3/4 of this book. The last 1/4 fell flat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

sashea's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Well, this book had dark, and academia. With an interesting setting, and plenty of murders, this had the main ingredients down- just half-baked in execution.

Initially intriguing but quickly got repetitive and almost boring. Only the short length of the book made me finish it. The men presented as suspicious have similar backgrounds

of abusive fathers

and the narrator pushes her professional observations/unfounded assumptions on them, making none of them particularly likeable in the process. Also just tons of lapses in judgement that don't make sense

if you keep getting threats of a guy you know to be unstable "watching you", and notice a man consistently following you at night... maybe stop going out alone at night for a little bit? Stay in and read something, maybe? Let the police know? Honestly Henry's whole inclusion felt unneeded. It felt like the author had wanted you to assume he was there to kill Mariana when he finally confronted her at Cambridge because he had the knife, but that part resolved so quickly and he already had a history of self-harm to get her attention so in effect it felt more like just wrapping up the loose end of "hey is this guy ever going to get any kind of help since obviously it is not coming from Mariana?"

. 

The twist at the end (for the motivation at least) was surprising but there was no connection to any of the characters and too many heavy-handed obvious red herrings that I wasn't even interested enough to guess at

why Zoe did it. Zoe wasn't even in it enough to make me care about her being a killer, let alone her affair with Sebastian - though to be fair she did need to be out of the narrative view to be committing the murders so maybe not much to be done there

Even with the reveal it was less of a "WHAT?!? I can't believe I didn't see it!" and more of a "uh, okay then." 

In summary, this book is "Daddy issues and the (two-dimensional) women who pay for it."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Infertility, and Abandonment

lbg352's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment