Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

30 reviews

massivepizzacrust's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense 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? No

4.0

Stuart Turton is a capital-letter Plot Twist writer, which you'll know if you've read The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. And as with that one, I found the plot twist 100% unpredictable but still a little flat. The atmosphere in the first 2/3 of the book was so terrifying I had to read something else at the same time and I guess I would have preferred a more predictable but more satisfying ending in line with that atmosphere. But it still made more sense than Evelyn Hardcastle so I guess I'm curious to see what Turton does next? 

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calliereece's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Yes. Read it. Now.

If you haven't read The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, I also highly recommend that novel but it may be slightly more confusing than this one. 

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aimsro's review

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dark tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0


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dani_saur30's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-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


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rodiemom's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5


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stromson's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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

4.5


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taymariereads's review

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adventurous 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? Yes

4.25


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oliverlang's review against another edition

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

4.0


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stephbakerbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book started off slow but trust me—the plot picks up a lot. There came a point where I was reading so quickly that I didn’t have time to form theories, I just wanted to know what was going to happen! I will say, parts were a little spookier than I was expecting and made me nervous reading it at night 🙈

You’re introduced to a lot of characters pretty early on and it did take a while for me to keep them all straight (thank you, handy character guide). But I loved that each of these characters were well fleshed out. They don’t all get development, but they’re all fully formed, complex people. Our main character, Arent, does get some nice development, but Sara was really the stand-out character for me. And I loved her relationship with her daughter.

So overall, a clever mystery with characters you can root for and a fascinating setting. And the ending was just perfect!

Read if you like: Sherlock Holmes or other detective duos, locked-room mysteries, historical fiction that is focused more on the fiction than the historical.

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erinjulia's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0


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