Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier

35 reviews

shesflippinpages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death, Blood, Rape, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Gore, Violence, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Dementia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Gaslighting

ashleyhart12's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Abandonment, Grief, Fatphobia, Murder, Rape, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicide

foxmulders's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Incest, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Racism

alindeman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow- another 5 star by Jennifer Hillier! Her stories are so compelling and so devastating. The heartache I felt for Joey and the rage I felt at ruby were visceral. It was a great mystery, both the current one surrounding Paris and the old one involving Joey. I was rooting for both of them. And while Hillier’s stories of trauma are brutal and sometimes hard to read, I love that

she lets the women win in the end. She gives them an ending not often afforded to women like them in real life.

will definitely be reading more of her work!
CHECK TW!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Suicide, and Death

Minor: Racism, Drug use, and Drug abuse

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

3.5

Paris's long hidden past is at risk of being revealed after she is accused of killing her celebrity husband. 

This book is comprised of three intertwined POVs: Paris, Drew, and Joey. The story jumps around a fair bit between three mysteries: who killed Jimmy, what happened the night Ruby was arrested, and who is Paris? 

I felt the story was interesting and I liked how it all came together in the end. That said I easily guessed all of the big twists. I felt it was missing a lot of the tension and suspense expected in a book like this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death, and Emotional abuse

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, Racism, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Medical content, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Xenophobia

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

4.0

 Finished reading: July 24th 2023

"While you can reinvent yourself, you can't outrun yourself. The common denominator in all the terrible things that have happend to you is you. Everywhere you go, there you are."

I loved Jar Of Hearts back when I read it in 2019, and I'm still not sure why it has taken me this long to pick up another of her titles. Especially since I've also had her previous psychological thriller on my TBR since it was published in 2020... Things We Do In The Dark won out in the end; mostly because the premise of this story intrigued me more. And I can definitely understand why it has been receiving so much love now! Things We Do In The Dark has only reconfirmed the fact that I highly enjoy the way Jennifer Hillier writes her stories. I wasn't expecting the two different POVs, because I was already so invested in Paris' story and the death of her rich husband. BUT. I loved what Drew's POV added to the plot, and I always have a weak spot for a podcast angle in a story (although the podcast itself only played a minor role). The building up of the plot is very well done, with the different parts complementing each other and adding more suspense. The dive into the past of main character Paris gets darker and darker as you continue reading, and what might seem to be a fairly simple murder case in the present turns out to be so much more... There are a lot of twists and secrets to unravel, and I really enjoyed how everything was woven together. A little warning: Things We Do In The Dark was a lot darker and twisted than expected, and it features topics including child abuse, pedophilia, suicide and violence. That said, the plot itself was well developed and the writing itself brought everything together. I did guess one of the final big twists, but as a whole Things We Do In The Dark was a very satisfying thriller. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Trafficking, Addiction, Grief, Incest, Racism, Violence, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

shesreadingagain_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.5

So convoluted. I had high hopes for this book. It’s all over the place and there are many murders spoiler and so many false identities galore /spoiler. 

I needed a damn flow chart for this book. I will try another book by this author because I did like the pacing and writing but the content was not ideal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Dementia, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Drug use, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Grief

micaelamariem's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

2.0

We all know by now I’m not the biggest thriller fan but I have actually liked a few in the past year! This, unfortunately, was not it. The main thing was I found it so predictable—and I’m normally never right about these things whereas here I called all the twists. Plus there is a lot of SA in the book which I suppose added to it, but it started to get too detailed for me and could be very triggering for other readers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Rape, Blood, Infidelity, Violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Racism, Grief, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, and Suicide attempt

melmertsis's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Blood, Body shaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism