Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

76 reviews

nadir's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Murder, Animal death, and Violence

cyndi1966's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, and Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Alcoholism, Child death, Drug use, and Animal death

ppppaula's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

2.75

Unlikeable characters and averagely executed twist. I guessed the main twist about 1/3 of the way through which unfortunately detracted from the enjoyment of the story. The way chapters would end on a ‘tense’ moment and the new chapter would then start in exactly the same spot felt kind of like how kids tell a scary story with an obvious attempt to build tension. I like the idea of the story, but it was an underwhelming read for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Addiction, and Child abuse

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.75

I was extremely into this story, and I appreciated the story the whole way through. The writing may have had a tiny edit for my preference, but I will definitely read this author again. Love a twisty tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death, Blood, Chronic illness, Bullying, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child death, Gore, Classism, Animal death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Suicide, Body shaming, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

rose_reads_at_dusk's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I think this is the first thriller I have ever read, and might I just say 🤯
I had guessed quite early on part of the twist but there was definitely some of it that really was shocking 😳

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Blood, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol

ssarahbbeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this. This is a book-lovers book and just completely satisfying. I was a little concerned this would not be an enjoyable read because there were a few characters that were so awful they didn't feel realistic at first. At the beginning, the bigger mystery to me was how they were getting away with behaving the way that they did and not the subsequent bodies piling up. The twist wasn't done just for the sake of having a twist, it is the soul of the story and when I finished I immediately wanted to go back and re-read the book to find all of the breadcrumbs the author left. Every question I had, from the actions of the characters that turned me off so much to the reveal of the mystery was so rewarding. I am glad I stuck with it. After this and Rock Paper Scissors, I think I have found my new favorite author.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Child death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Fatphobia, Animal death, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Car accident, Medical content, Gore, and Infidelity

The violence isn't graphic and mostly a description of the aftermath. There is a scene where a 13 year old gets drunk and an older teenager (around 18) manipulates her into kissing him. Not explicit but could be upsetting. The two mothers are emotionally abusive and all around horrible to their daughters.

zosiablue's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.5

OK. When I got to the end, my first thought was, THIS IS LUDICROUS. It's a classic locked room Agatha Christie homage but as each character dies, NO ONE has the right sized reaction. I mean, people keep dropping dead, and the alive ones might cry a little but...if my whole family died every hour on the hour while 80 clocks on a wall clanged each time I might have a stronger reaction?! And then the Sixth Sense ending! But. But! If you read it like a absolute terrifying horror shitshow about a bunch of certifiably psychotic people out psychotic-ing each other until there's nothing left but a seaside mansion full of gory, bloody bodies and one sad teenage ghost - then we've got ourselves a ballgame.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Car accident

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Daisy Darker’s family returns to Seaglass for Nana’s 80th birthday…but then they begin dying off one by one while trapped on the island at high tide, and family secrets come to light that will change everything.

This is my favorite of Alice Feeney’s novels so far! I’m a sucker for an And Then There Were None homage, and the setting/atmosphere of this one is absolutely perfect—seaside house, cut off from the world by a storm and high tide, and lots and lots of dead bodies piling up over one extra-creepy Halloween night. There’s also some very eerie poetry that really adds to the tension overall.

Most of all, I absolutely loved the writing style of this one—there are so many absolutely beautiful poignant quotes and brilliant details. And, while I won’t say more for fear of spoilers, I absolutely did not see the main twist coming (and audibly shouted at my book when it happened).

Highly recommend this to all thriller fans!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: locked room mysteries; dark family sagas; creepy seaside vibes

CW: Lots of death/blood/violence; discussions of terminal illness; discussion of animal death; physical and emotional abuse; suicide

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

taryn_g'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Car accident, Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Gun violence

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Alcoholism

Minor: Addiction, Infidelity, and Animal death

ejoymiller11's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

Rounded up from 3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book and found it entertaining, but I do think it could’ve been better. The flashbacks to Daisy’s childhood, while providing some nice context, dragged on a little too much compared to the rushed ending. I understand the author was trying to help us understand the characters and their flaws, but it was so slow and dragged the pace down from the present-day murder mystery chapters. I definitely think we could’ve had quicker summaries of character flaws and used those extra pages at the end of the book. 
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The last 40 or so pages felt forced to me, like it was wrapped up a little too perfectly. While I love the twist of Daisy being dead the entire time (I totally had to go back and read some paragraphs!), I didn’t find Trixie’s motive realistic. I’m not sure I find murdering her entire family and turning herself into an underage orphan over a child aunt that died 15 years earlier believable. It just wasn’t compelling enough for me. I wish we had a longer ending and better explanation for Trixie’s motivations and justification. Nana’s made a little more sense to me, but it was still hard to find believable in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Murder, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, and Child death

Minor: Animal death, Pregnancy, Confinement, Infidelity, Abandonment, Bullying, Gun violence, and Sexual content