Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

97 reviews

delaneydunster's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Murder

edresbach's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Abandonment, and Gaslighting

rebeccadiv's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Rape, Torture, Grief, Body horror, Death, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Eating disorder and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Incest

sydwishnow's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I’m not really sure what to rate it because I think im just mainly confused with what happened to one of the characters and the switching of perspectives… need to talk to someone who read it. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Kidnapping

alexflagg's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? No

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Dementia, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Murder, Sexism, and Homophobia

Minor: Body shaming, Incest, Eating disorder, and Forced institutionalization

reverendmix's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Body horror, Child death, Torture, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping, Gore, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Sexual assault

bella_cavicchi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Stunning and startling in equal turn. I greatly admire how Knoll weaves the theme of sisterhood throughout, not in an icky "girl boss"/white feminism way but, rather, in a profound call to reconsider—to remember—the shared responsibility we hold to do better for each other. A true sucker punch of a novel, one that I'd think would pair well with A Tiny Upward Shove.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Rape, Child death, Cursing, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Pregnancy and Eating disorder

ashkane's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Murder, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, and Dysphoria

catsloverain's review against another edition

Not sure this mix of truth and first-person fiction and anti-true crime essay works. I definitely agree with the anti-true crime arguments being made but it's a little bizarre that they're told through the first person perspective of a survivor of a real life murderer. A big message is that "no one knows the real names of B*ndy's victims," but the whole of this book is making up pretend victims who didn't exist and blending them with the graphic details of real victims? It's a little odd having real names of victims, places of murders, murder details, and even a reference to Zac Efron in the biopic, while simultaneously having the entire story center around invented characters.

On a personal note, I felt like the scenes at the end with Ruth were also unnecessarily stomach churning and I'm not sure the role they specifically served.

Edit: After looking at some other reviews, I think that I was not the audience (I was already very anti-true crime before starting this book). The defensive attitudes about how cops, journalists, and true crime "fans" are depicted in this novel seems to indicate that this kind of book is necessary, although this particular one may not have been well written enough to be fully successful.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Kidnapping

blankie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Blood, Misogyny, and Murder