Reviews tagging 'Torture'

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

127 reviews

candearangotobon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Be prepared for a lot of plot twists and very heavy scenes, I think the book should have trigger warnings for some people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Torture, Stalking, Murder, Drug abuse, Death, Vomit, Rape, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Drug use, and Blood

nikexistiertnik's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense

• 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? Yes

3.5

well, i just refreshed the page and lost everything i wrote, so i'm gonna try to piece it together from memory.
i am exhausted.
this book was way too long and way too stressful - i was kept on my toes for about 300 pages straight without a chance to relax even a little bit.
the premise was unexpected, but interesting to me, although it felt dragged out a lot and could've definitely been kept shorter.

what makes this book - at least in my eyes - worse than its prequels: the dt killer reveal wasn't a surprising reveal at all - i was really disappointed that pip and ravi chose to focus on dan again, when it was so obvious after andie's email that jason bell was dt.
in the previous books, pip always seemed to be on a similar track as the reader, but this time she was uncharacteristically off about this stuff, which could be tied to her ptsd and other struggles, but it still struck me as really weird.
the whole "tie together all the strings everything comes together in the end in a full circle"-thing had me swaying from side to side, on the one hand i kinda enjoyed seeing everyone again and i love it when all the dots connect, but on the other hand it was just so. much. and very obvious the author wanted to pull out all the stops, but there were just too many.
the ending was such a relief to me; i would've been so disappointed, had i stressed myself to the point of exhaustion reading this book, without it ending the way it did.

in general, i did enjoy the writing again, although the use of the word "sniff" as a verb as well as a noun was excessive.
in conclusion, not a bad book, it was enjoyable, but i didn't like it as much as the first two, and I don't think i could read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Animal death, Car accident, Cursing, and Vomit

mganallirt's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Murder, Vomit, Stalking, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Blood, Violence, Torture, Gore, and Gaslighting

bookthief's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

This book was very intense and fast paced. This book was literally a good girls guide to murder. It’s scary how Holly Jackson managed to think of this story. The first part of the book was very creepy when Pip had her stalker but overall it created suspense. The second part was a literal guide to murder which was kind of scary if you think about it. I can’t believe what Pip had to do in the end. TEAM RAVI AND PIP!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Addiction, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Stalking, Blood, Torture, and Violence

pippamillerxoxo_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Vomit, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, and Drug abuse

avaeast's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Holy smokes was this a good book!

I’d honestly say that this is probably one of my favorite reads this year. The book wrapped up the AGGGTM trilogy in an amazing way, and it’s definitely worth reading.

I love how we get to see Pip become darker and darker with each book, and how she kind of gets corrupted. *This book is a lot darker and more gruesome than the previous two, so keep that in mind.*

It was full of twists and when you began reading it you really had no idea where it was about to end up. There were so many turns and plot twists. It literally had me biting my nails. While reading the first book I never could’ve imagined that this was how it all would end.

I enjoyed how everything came around full circle and that the events of all three books are tied together. Truthfully, I had my copy of AGGGTM next to me to go back and check things and figure out my theories - so I can recommend doing that.

And prepare yourself with some tissues for the ending.

All in all, Holly Jackson is a brilliant writer and I cannot wrap my head around how she comes up with everything! A must read for fans of the thriller genre - or anyone, really…

The TW may contain spoilers!

Favorite Quote:

Just as funny, as ridiculous, as the notion of decomposing bodies and the way we all become one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Murder, Stalking, Confinement, and Drug use

Minor: Gore and Torture

sunsetcity's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Stalking, Drug abuse, Body horror, Death of parent, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, Addiction, Drug use, Gore, Kidnapping, Blood, Confinement, and Rape

zips777's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It was pretty good. 

I did know who DT was pretty early on, so the twist wasn’t much of a twist. 

I had completely forgotten the other two books before this - this is a book that would have benefitted from a recap at the beginning I think. 

The ending was good. And the bit where they had ti cover up the crime? Sooooo intense. 

The headphones bit didn’t really get me. And I did wonder if she was actually going to die when she got kidnapped. 

I don’t think any of the characters are actually likeable though. Pip is kinda annoying. 

Idk. It was ok. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Torture, Self harm, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Addiction, Gore, Drug use, Death, Blood, and Body horror

luananki's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

i’m not sure how to rate this book. i loved the series and the first two books were amazing but this one was just a bit disappointing. 

i still very much enjoyed pip and ravi as characters and how both of them work together so perfectly but it took me forever to finish and it just didn’t grasp me the way the first two stories did.

i wish this one would’ve been kept shorter. i really really loved the ending though and am glad i decided to read all three of the books.

definitely check tw before picking up as good as dead!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide, Vomit, Animal death, and Cursing

smkelly1997's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is not for the faint of heart I would recommend reading the TW if you are concerned. 

I feel that this book wrapped up the AGGGTM series perfectly. Pip is an ever evolving character. Throughout this book I hated, loved, admired, and feared Pip. She is such a complex character it really made this book different that others. In this book you were constantly left wondering how is Pip going to get herself out of this? While I do think the DT killer was a bit obvious, there were still many plot twist leaving the reader on there toes. 

Trigger warning which may contain a spoiler:

the murder which takes place in this book left me with a visceral reaction. I struggled reading the words repeated over and over again. I do think this one page could be skipped if it will induce issues.

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence