Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier

14 reviews

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

This is my first book by Jennifer Hillier and unfortunately it wasn’t a win for me. I really enjoyed the first quarter of the story from Paris Peralta’s perspective as she’s trying to navigate the criminal justice system after the suspicious death of her much older husband. I found this part intriguing and mysterious, but once it transitioned to the second part where the focus was on Drew, I just did not feel engaged with the story. I found Drew’s judgmental and slut-shaming attitude really through me off.

And just a heads up, there’s a huge focus on detailed child abuse and trauma, which I was not expecting from this book, and I probably wouldn’t have picked this one up if I had known that. As well, the mystery seemed to have just been figured out about halfway through, and then just when the tension started rising again, everything just sort of resolved itself, so it just left me feeling like everything wrapped up way too quickly, which was unsatisfying. 

I did enjoy Hillier’s writing style though and I’d definitely still be willing to check out more by this author—if you’ve read anything else by her, let me know another of hers that I should pick up.

Thanks St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books & Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Rape, Self harm, Murder, Classism, Incest, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

soobooksalot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

"She never knew that blood looked black in the dark."
 Jennifer Hillier has once again cemented her position as one of my top auto-buy authors!
 Things We Do In The Dark is a mystery wrapped around the portrait of lost souls.
 Paris Peralta's husband Jimmy - a famed comedian and actor - is found dead in a bloody bathtub in their home. Paris is immediately suspected of murder, opening up the story to not only the circumstances of Jimmy's death, but the years that came before that day.
 I went into this dark suspense rather blind, trusting that Hillier's writing would once again have me whipping through the pages.
 Indeed she did. The pacing is note-perfect, the dark tone what we've come to expect from the author.
 Absolutely recommended!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Murder, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

ekmook's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Pedophilia, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, Violence, Sexism, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Addiction, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Racism

our_bookish_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional informative medium-paced

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

2.0

Here's the thing: I love thrillers, normally  psychological, and legal thrillers. While this one hooked me from page one, once it gets a few chapters in, the story gets lost and muddled with the past.  Then it starts picking up again, and everything from the past ties into the present, it makes sense, but I feel like it could have been executed better.
I found it very predictable, so it didn't make me guess much, but it was a decent book all in all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Murder, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Cancer, Dementia, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, and Grief