Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Die verschwundenen Studentinnen by Alex Michaelides

77 reviews

layla_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

i did like this but why does mariana have zero reaction to anything 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

nicoleherz's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

An engaging mystery that kept my attention. So many questions I wanted answers to, and written well, in a way that was easy to fly through.
I was constantly speculating who the murderer(s) might be, and what twist the author would throw in.

I had considered the possibility it was Zoe, but never would have guessed that Sebastian had anything to do with it. It made it a great twist, but I'm not sure if it aligns well with all the clues given earlier. There definitely could have been more details given to make it more plausible.

I also found the epilogue to give me more answers than questions. Oh well, still a great read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Self harm, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Stalking, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

bookasaurbri's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Blood, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Suicide attempt

kinga1204's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I thoroughly enjoyed it until about 90%, but the ending was as bad as mystery book endings go. There are so many unnecessary plot points, and very few of the conflicts are actually solved by the end... It's a gripping, fast read, but has many, many mistakes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death

Minor: Abandonment

bookworm247's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

lexslittlelibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

I want to love this book so much! Up until the very last plot twist I was captivated by everything within the text. Given how convinced Mariana was that Fosca was a murderer I went into this going “okay so not him” but time and time again I was a bit unsure. I think there was one potentially really good red herring thrown in but he was too easy to dismiss. Same with the other attempts made at a suspect. 

Henry could have been such a great suspect if he wasn’t clearly too far gone to write that kind of text /

It was too easy as a reader to look at the letters of confession and know who could not have written them. However the plot twist at the end did nothing feel entirely earned. It came out of left field without much to substantiate it and honestly made a lot of the emotion I invested in some of the characters feel a bit wasted? 

Overall, the side characters who could have been compelling fell flat. We didn’t see enough of Fosca and the Maidens (in my opinion) and the Maidens we did see were hard to get a feel for. 

The two introduced Maidens who died just felt like a toss up of ‘oh I know that name. Didn’t contribute to who was a suspect or give much emotion for the victims /

Overall, I want to love this book. And it’s fun enough — until the very end with the very last reveal. That’s where it lost me. Solid read but fell a hit short for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, and Alcohol

_carly_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual harassment

seriousduck's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

mfrisk's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I can’t fully decide yet how I feel about this one but I’m going to try to capture my experience. I really enjoyed the world building, the character building, and the fast pacing due to the shorter chapters. Where I struggle is with the conclusion and the final reveal. I’d have to reread to see if it really makes sense but I’m not sure I feel the reveal was built enough into earlier details of the book. Which I guess could be intentional but the reveal seems overly reliant on the idea that our main character essentially didn’t see what was right in front of her within her relationship. It just seems a bit too neatly wrapped up and convenient. The prologue also could have gone a bit further as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

stephaniezd's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Solid thriller/whodunnit. I felt lost at times due to not having any background in Greek mythology. The ending caught me by surprise, tho, so that was really a nice twist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Abandonment