Reviews tagging 'Rape'

This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter

38 reviews

baebrahamlincoln's review against another edition

dark informative 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape

michelles_book_nook's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

⚠️ CW: murder, child abuse, domestic abuse, rape, paedophilia and mentions of drug abuse and addiction ⚠️ If you want a book that will make you question every single character multiple times then this one is for you! For GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton, McAlpine Lodge seems like the ideal getaway to celebrate their honeymoon. Set on a gorgeous, off-grid mountaintop property, it’s the perfect place to unplug and reconnect. Until a bone-chilling scream cuts through the night. Mercy McAlpine, the manager of the Lodge, is dead. With a vicious storm raging and the one access road to the property washed out, the murderer must be someone on the mountain. But as Will and Sara investigate the McAlpine family and the other guests, they realize that everyone here is lying. And with the killer poised to strike again, the trip of a lifetime becomes a race against the clock. This book had me absolutely hooked from the very beginning and even when I did put it down I was still thinking of the plot and the characters and trying to figure out who the murderer was. Karin Slaughter is a new author to me, and this is only the second book I've read by her, but she's quickly becoming a fast favourite! Especially with her Will Trent series as I love that the books can be read as a series or easily picked up as standalones with no issues. The only reason I dropped this down a star was because of the mass amount of characters, and in parts it did feel a bit overwhelming trying to remember everything and everyone. Overall, I highly recommend this book and can't wait to read more by this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

mizuhanome's review against another edition

4.0

I'm writing this immediately after finishing. So maybe it's going to be a bit biased because I still feel completely devastated by that ending

This is Why We Lied is a Good Book. It's a Solid Book. It's truly a 4 star book ...for me, personally. It seems like a lot of people really love this book, and I think a part of that is also part of why it didn't fully click for me, which is the fact that this is book 12 in a series. Book 12?!?!?!?

The beginning of this book is really... I'm not sure if "slow" is the right term so much as, it goes over a lot of details that I struggle to care about. The thing is like... I'm sure this book, seeing the main leads go on their honeymoon, is very very satisfying for people who have read the whole series and watched them develop. It just... focuses a lot, too much for my tastes, on "isn't it so nice that these characters you may not know anything about are in love". It's very very very overly sappy and fanservicey before we get into the meat of things. That's pretty minor, though, but it drags at the start... Another thing is that this books writing style really didn't stand out to me one bit, which disappointed me and probably made it a bit hard to feel motivated to read it, but that's solidly personal preference.

It's good, though. I'm a sucker for closed area murder mysteries, I'm a sucker for family drama, all the good things in the synopsis that made me pick up the book were very very much there. I liked the characters a lot overall, in spite of the fact I didn't have a preconceived attachment to them. Although I do kind of agree that the culprit is easy to guess early on, it leads you down a lot of different pathways. Not in a "purposefully twisty to get a shock reaction" way, but genuinely unraveling a complex mystery, one completely mundane and grounded but horrifying and interesting.

That's the thing, though... This book is not for the faint of heart. God. Not even a little. It's INSANELY dark, consistently, throughout the entire book. I mean... the whole book centers around the life of a woman who went through almost every type of abuse imaginable, who truly had no one she could trust to not hurt her, no one she could rely on. (That's another thing I like, as well, getting the victim's POV and fully fleshing her out...) And just when you think you've heard the worst of it, it gets even worse. It's not shock value. Most of it is talked about in past tense, and when it is depicted, it only serves to showcase the true severity of the situation, the deep pain that it causes the victim. It felt very true to the reality of extreme familial abuse. It's just really that horrifying. The final reveal made me nauseous, and then start crying, and there's almost nothing that makes me uncomfortable in written text but it was just so harrowing, so real that I couldn't help but feel ruined by it.

So, like... Do I recommend this book? ...I recommend a good read-through of the content warnings first. And then, yeah.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Rape, and Car accident

hnmeister's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Rape, and Alcohol

pterodog's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I enjoyed this installment much more than the previous one, probably because the story felt a bit more grounded in reality to me. It was sufficiently mysterious to keep me engaged and guessing up until the last few pages, and I did enjoy trying to figure out the culprit while I read.

I'm not sure why everyone forgot that Mercy couldn't have been speaking to Dave when she made that final phone call, but I guess the implication was that she was meant to be speaking to Cecil? This did confuse me a little, which is a shame as otherwise the last part of the story would probably have been less confusing.

I did appreciate Will's character development, and his choice

not to help Dave in the final page of the book. Otherwise, I think it would have felt a little repetitive for me. There's only so many times I can read Will putting his life and his relationship with Sara on the line before I start thinking about this being a Jeffery situation again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Medical content, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

shesflippinpages's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kdela's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

lisettemarie's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

keywork1331's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

With the crossover into Will’s past, I really hoped to see some familiar faces resurface. I was a little disappointed when this didn’t happen. Also, I knew very quickly who was responsible for the murder of Mercy McAlpine. However, the full reveal for the motive and other events that transpired in the story were quite a genuinely disturbing surprise. Overall, a solid work, but perhaps not destined to become a favorite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, and Murder

aussiebookwitch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Car accident, and Murder