Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Sluit alle deuren by Riley Sager, Roelof Posthuma

51 reviews

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

dark 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? No

3.0

Rating: 3/5 stars

Jules is facing rock bottom when she agrees to move into a luxury apartment building as a paid house sitter. But when another sitter goes missing, Jules quickly realizes all is not what it seems…

I want to preface this by saying I’m a huge Riley Sager fan, and count some of his other books among my favorite thrillers. I think he’s super talented and he’ll always be an auto-buy author for me on the strength of some of his other work. Unfortunately, this one absolutely did not land for me.

I was bored for 99% of this book (the 1% was basically the very beginning, when I was waiting for the premise to set up, and my enthusiasm didn’t even return for the ending and final reveals). The FMC made some absolutely ridiculous choices and decisions, and I didn’t really like any of the other characters. I also never felt super invested in the mystery aspect of the plot, and I thought the big reveal was pretty bonkers and didn’t have great foundation laid to suggest it throughout.

I know a lot of people do love this one, so it may well have been a “me” problem…but the bottom line is if you’re reaching for a Riley Sager I personally think there are much better ones to grab.

CW: Death/death of parent/suicide; fire; blood/injury/violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, and Death

dizpig's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Body horror, Drug use, Death of parent, Classism, Death, Blood, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Dementia, Body horror, and Cancer

Minor: Stalking

matildaesandell's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was so creepy, if I ever see the Barthomolew I’ll be running 👋🏼  this book nailed it with the icky feelings and the cliffhangers at the end of the chapters. I definitely found myself in that position where all I wanted was to help the FMC, which is absolutely a good sign! I didn’t guess any of plot twists and found the story very creative and unique. Definitely enjoyed this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Confinement

kiwichill's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Self harm, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Medical content, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

charlottesometimesreads's review against another edition

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? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content

aprilblues348's review against another edition

mysterious tense

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Classism, Death of parent, Self harm, Violence, Blood, and Death

Minor: Alcohol

jessspeake's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Physical abuse, Classism, Confinement, Abandonment, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Suicide, Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Cursing, and Sexual content

singalana's review against another edition

emotional 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

Things are not going well for our main character, Jules. She lost her job AND her boyfriend on the same day, and she has no money and no family she could reach out to. When she’s offered a job as a housesitter in the famous Bartholomew-building, she accepts, even though the job seems too good to be true. 

Despite the strict rules, she gets acquainted with the other housesitters and a few of the residents. She has started to feel uneasy about the building, and when one of the other housesitters disappears, she is determined to find some answers: is she in danger too?

Despite the fact that her sister has disappeared, Jules seems to get very quickly involved in the other housesitters' disappearance. It's hard for the reader to get emotionally invested in the character's disappearance or understand why Jules is so invested in it.

This book has gothic undertones, but I wish that the uneasiness would have been explored more slowly. There are a few moments the book captures the Gothic feeling, but it passes way too quickly. Maybe this book could have done with a little less investigative twists and turns and a little more atmospheric horror. And I wasn’t a huge fan of how we are shown glimpses of how things are now and working our way to find out how Jules ended up there. 

For New Yorkers, everyone seems to be surprisingly friendly and helpful in this book. 

Things seem to move both too fast and too slow in this book. It certainly is a page turner and I was interested enough to see how it ends, but… More on that in the spoilers. 

Spoilers!

The characters feel a bit archetypical and shallow, and like I said, as I was not very invested in the characters, I wasn't as invested in the story as I would have liked. Especially towards the end we get some very clichéd villain monologue.

And of course she manages to throw herself into one of the villain’s (Nick) arms, who is shady from the beginning. The character’s description takes an interesting turn when she finds out he’s involved in the strangeness of Bartholomew: at first he’s depicted as attractive, and then almost nerdy and creepy. Initially the role of a sketchy male suspect is played by Dylan, whose description changes in a similar manner, but to the opposite direction. Even though I have to admit that I kind of liked Nick's ending.

 

I didn't guess the mystery behind Bartholomew, even though I probably should have. I guess I liked it more when it was Satanic sacrifice. Organ harvesting for the rich seems cheap and boring. In hindsight, the twists were predictable and the book doesn't do much that feels original.

Also I kept expecting to get something out of Jules' sister's disappearance, but apparently it was there only to provide a tragic backstory.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Medical content

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Trafficking

Minor: Death, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual content, Suicide, Classism, Infidelity, Alcohol, Chronic illness, and Cursing

daringreader13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Body horror, Classism, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

chasingpages1's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Classism, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Gore, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Gun violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Car accident