Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

22 reviews

sevenletters's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Confinement, and Grief

Moderate: Murder, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury

carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

4.5/5

Stevie continues to be my little baby. She's so weird and awk and SMART! Oh I just wanna swaddle her. She's so unintentionally --and also intentionally-- funny (

running away from David???? lmfao!

). 

In contrast, we have my enemy: Nate 👿🤬. He's soooo fucking annoying I'm sorry literally the only reason this book is 4.5 instead of 5 stars. Every time he showed up I'd literally yell at my book for him to go away (let's remember, I never claimed to be sane). He irked me to my very core. Less of him in the next book, hopefully.

God, poor Ellie. To die like that. Fucking horrible.

The whole David/EK/Stevie situation was annoying, I both get and am annoyed by David's reaction to it. Def understandable given the circumstances but I wish he would just forgive her (selfish, ik). There's actually something clinically wrong with that boy -- someone needs to get a therapist involved frfr. But just like Stevie running away, it's hard to fault them for their behavior. They're literally 17.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Confinement, Grief, Child death, Mental illness, and Kidnapping

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Vomit

headinthepages's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Abandonment, Death, Gore, Body horror, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Alcohol, Confinement, Violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

babsi_222's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Blood, Child death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

rylin_marie's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.25

oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my goshhhhhhhhhhhh i’m speechless

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug use, Medical content, Mental illness, Addiction, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Murder

books4em's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book made me remember why I love thrillers - but not just any thriller, those thriller series where you are left without the one last answer to the mystery. You have so many of the pieces fitting together, but then there's that one question that leaves you hanging. Add in a new cliffhanger, and you've got those specially amazing thrillers. That was The Vanishing Stair. I am about to immediately pick up the third book in the Truly Devious series because this was so good. Johnson really knows how to write a story that keeps you captivated. Reading the two timelines at the same time is a key aspect of this series and one I enjoy greatly. Combined with the fantastic descriptions of the setting of Burlington, Ellingham, and Vermont in general, it is truly amazing (pun intended). The whole subplot with Edward King I'm not a fan of, but I see its purpose. Same with the Dr. Fenton and Hunter subplot - not sure where that's going. As with Truly Devious, I appreciated the queer rep with the side characters (one of whom uses they/them pronouns and it's seamless) along with the mental health rep. I liked how these points continued from the first book. I also liked how this book focused more on solving the Ellingham case, not just the one in the current timeline. And by far, the best moment in this book is on page 348 where Stevie is talking through the murders with those involved in the cupola and the ghost of Dottie looks at George Marsh's ghost and turns to Stevie and nods and Stevie nods back. Yes!!! That moment of understanding and thanks from Dottie is insurmountable! But still, where is Alice and what's the secret surrounding her?! I need answers, so on to book 3!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Confinement

Moderate: Death and Murder

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Kidnapping

amaya_jam's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

I'm not a big audiobook person but for some reason, this series just works in this format 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Vomit and Alcoholism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, and Confinement

thebookpaiges's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, and Grief

widgetknits's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, and Murder

rissaandherbooks's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

An incredible continuation of my favorite series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Murder, Medical content, Violence, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, and Sexism