Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

125 reviews

yasaman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Infidelity, Dementia, Blood, Stalking, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Death, Chronic illness, Child death, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Vomit, Medical trauma, Medical content, Bullying, Violence, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal death

jesskreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Daisy Darker - Alice Feeney ⭐⭐⭐

📚 I recommend this if you love a closed circle of suspects, split timeline mystery 

Genre: Mystery 
Number of Pages: 336
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Publisher: Pan Books
Series or Standalone: Standalone 
Tropes & Themes: isolation, inherited property, closed circle of suspects, family trauma, dark past, locked room, unreliable narrator, jealousy, split timeline 

I really wanted to love this book, I was instantly drawn to the cover after seeing it! I've read other books by Alice Feeney that I enjoyed, so borrowed this one from my local library.
Oh
I liked the use of rhyming and the focus on the use of poems to aid the telling of the story. Definitely had unreliable narrator vibes throughout - an isolated family reunion was never going to end well!
I felt the ending was a bit disappointing (which I can't explain too much without spoiling) but it had a slight plot twist I wasn't expecting/didn't like!  a real shame

Favourite quote: "I have a secret of my own. And some secrets are worth killing to keep"

📖 Brief plot summary 
Daisy Darker is having a family reunion for her grandmother's  80th birthday. The Darker family haven't all been in the same place for a decade. When the tide goes in, the house is isolated from the mainland for 8 hours. When the tide goes out, nothing is the same as one of them is a killer!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Grief, Death of parent, Chronic illness, and Death

nineinchnails's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

the tone of the writing does feel slightly immature/juvenile but that could be intentional to reflect the main character. i didn’t guess the twists at all so it did what i wanted it to do as a thriller! i love dysfunctional families and this definitely delivered but the characters felt pretty flat outside of that - i also didn’t care for the preachiness from nana but i can see how some would like it. the ending felt a little “unrealistic” in a way i wasn’t prepared for but i still really enjoyed it overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Car accident, Death, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Gun violence, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent and Animal death

rchatterjee188's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Infidelity, Grief, Ableism, Car accident, and Abandonment

Minor: Blood, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, and Confinement

bellebookcorner's review

dark mysterious 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

4.0

Pick this one up if you enjoy a locked room murder mystery with family drama, I’m sure you'll love uncovering the dark lies and secrets of the Darker family. 

 

Told in dual timeline, the past and the present where you’ll get to know each character while also figuring out the culprit behind the murders. 

This is not a fast-paced kind of thriller story nevertheless, it kept me interested from the beginning until the end with the spooky atmosphere of a lonely house in a remote island. 

 

The ending was quite heart-breaking and surprised me as well. 

I guess a couple of the twists, except one that I didn't think of until later on. 

Looking back into it, if I had seen the clues scattered throughout the story more thoroughly and put them together, I would’ve guessed it earlier! 

 

Overall, this is a thrilling read with easy to read writing style and unexpected twists that kept me at the edge of my seat. 

I really like reading Alice Feeney's books so far - this one is definitely one of them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism and Child abuse

emma_sky's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, Xenophobia, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Gore, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Car accident, Death, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, and Grief

readinglibraesq's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

Moderate: Death of parent and Alcoholism

ginny_lind's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

Daisy Darker is a new take on a classic Agatha Chrisie plot line, but just left me wanting. The story was engaging, but the writing style didn't grip me. While I didn't see the plot twist coming, I still felt underwhelmed by the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Suicide, Chronic illness, Cancer, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming

dev921's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Medical content, Alcoholism, Bullying, Murder, Death, Alcohol, Body shaming, Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

misti's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.0

"We all have our own version of the truth, and it is rarely whole."

"Life is a performance, and we don’t all like the scripts we’re given; sometimes it’s best to write your own."

I have very mixed feelings about this one. 

Most thrillers/mystery have three main questions, who did it, how did they do it, and why they did it. 

Finding out who killed them was kind of predictable. I mean it made sense it was them, but still. 

Why they killed them? Now that was plot twist. I did not see that coming. This whole goddam family sucks. They are really the worst. They did a horrible thing and went on living for years, did not care who they hurt. So glad they are all dead. Not one person who died was worth saving. 

I know this is very vague but I am trying to avoid spoilers. 
Well all I wanna say is that I liked it, but the killer reveal was a let down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism and Abandonment