Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - The Kind Worth Killing

Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

49 reviews

phantasmaboo's review against another edition

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Very dark and just not what I was looking for. I backed out at the graphic sexual assault of a child.

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bobinsbooknook's review against another edition

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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

2.0

I had hoped to be able to rate this book higher. Though the first half held a nice intrigue with a plot twist early on and darker themes, the second half just became boring, predictable.

My biggest struggle with this book that the female characters were depicted as nothing more than sexualised objects, with all the male characters seeming to be obsessed with picturing naked - even the lead detective who was writing dirty limericks about the MFC! The fact that every character to seem only be motivated by sexual attraction in some form or another made all the characters feel too similar and boring and worse still, for the majority of the book provided no real purpose to drive the story forward.

I may have enjoyed this book more had it stuck with the stronger plot theme of killing people who the MFC thought deserved to die to make the world better, rather than then flattening out to a dull cheater-revenge story - sideline with this undeveloped underlying storyline of the MFCs dad being prison which really didn't do anything to the plot either.

Whilst a rushed ending can be accepted, the depiction of the female characters really left me with a poor taste in my mouth and personally won't be rushing to read any more works by this author.

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oracleofoaks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

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stefpntny's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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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mermis_'s review

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dark funny mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.5

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mimamilli's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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willow2342's review

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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? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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yetilibrary's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

(Review copied from Goodreads)
Three stars for being engaging, and for having >= 1 interesting character. Lost some points for having some very dull characters (boy, those sections dragged). The ending felt rushed and maybe even a little cheap, somehow, but I will say right now that I think my opinion about the ending is wrong and I'm just being petulant.

I will give another of Swanson's books a shot to see if I like it better. This one felt like he had a manuscript due and had to get it done. It also felt like he wanted to do an homage to Patricia Highsmith (that's clear from the very beginning: it's a Chekhov's Gun but Highsmith!) and maybe had to rush it. That may have affected my rating--you can't out-Highsmith Highsmith, and we all pale in comparison.

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sarcasticlive's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

2.75

I wish I had been warned of the on page animal death that happens early on in the book.. so I'm now warning others. The book otherwise was fine, but it threw me off. If that isn't something that gets to you, you would probably enjoy this book more than me!

Content Warnings

thiszetasajerk's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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