Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Dear Laura by Gemma Amor

27 reviews

killmoore_'s review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-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 really enjoyed Dear Laura, but to get to that point I had to stop thinking about it. There are a few painfully ignored questions that caused my review to drop drastically (why did he get in the car?!) and the ending fell a bit flat fo  me personally, but I loved the world that Gemma creates for her reader. Forever grateful that as a 30+ year old woman, I couldn't care any less about what's going on with my boyfriend of 20 years ago. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Mental illness, Child death, Grief, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, and Vomit

missgrangerr's review

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

True horror, for me, is based in reality. Your best friend and newly made boyfriend goes missing at 15 and you’re the last person to see him before he gets into a strangers van; that’s horror. Laura’s life after, his parents lives, true horror. This book really delves into the not knowing and how desperate one is to find out. It also plays with the illusion of free will and power in a relationship and how it can ruin a person. When she didn’t hear from X she was panicking and when she did she was still panicking. The power he had over her was tremendous and Gemma Amor wrote it fantastically.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Body horror, Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

gingergiant92's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Murder, and Child death

ghostblush's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death, Stalking, and Self harm

Moderate: Animal death

pierreadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Kidnapping, and Blood

gia0203's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

simple but effective little horror book. I read it quickly and enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Kidnapping

Moderate: Pedophilia and Child abuse

ana21's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Stalking

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

kryskross's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Drug use

hmn54437's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

2.0

This book set itself up to have a sick twist but instead was just exactly what i expected it to be. I appreciate it for its realness and the fact that it doesn’t hold back from the horror of real life, but the way some of the reveals were set up just made it seem like the author had plans for a big twist that never came. 

It also left so much unanswered which is understandable for a short horror, but I almost wish this could’ve been a full novel instead of just a novella so that I could’ve gotten to know Bobby, Laura, and X more as characters. I think the novella format was not what this story needed. 

I enjoyed it but I was just left with questions and the desire for more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Death

catsy2022's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Rating: B+

Dear Laura, a book I think I might've read before, is about Laura, whose childhood best friend and boyfriend, Bobby, is kidnapped by a man suddenly one day and vanishes without a trace. She spends years processing the trauma of this event and navigating the social relationships around her until she receives a letter from the man who claims to have kidnapped and killed Bobby. 

This is a very short book which unravels in alternating chapters between the present and the past, where Laura is a teenager and navigating the requests she receives from X in her letters. I did like the set-up and the writing style was decent, not too descriptive and verbose, but not so simple to be underwhelming. I also really felt that the scene where Bobby was taken was such a well-written scene that described so accurately the confusion of a child in seeing her friend leave with a stranger, but also leave her behind without reason.

Worth a read if you're looking for short horror fiction grounded in reality.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Moderate: Self harm, Vomit, and Blood

Self harm -

Laura rips out her own tooth.